BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Twelve top leaders of the New People’s Army in Negros and Panay were reported by the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division to have been neutralized, after being killed through focused military operations in 2021.
Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 3ID commanding general, attributed the successful operations against themto the vigilance and cooperation of residents in Western and Central Visayas, as well as the continuous collaboration with concerned government agencies under the mechanism of the National Task Force—Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict in the region.
Among those 12 top NPA leaders killed wereKerima Lorena Tariman, secretary of the Northern Negros Front; Marilyn Badayos – NNF finance officer; while those in Panay Island were Reynaldo Bocala, Regional Finance Bureau chief of Komiteng Rehiyonal-Panay and Joven Ceralvo, Deputy secretary of KR-Panay Southern Front.
Arevalo said a total of 49 NPA rebels died in numerous encounters with 3ID infantry units stationed in Negros and Panay, 22 others were arrested and 71 surrendered.
He also reiterated his persistent reminder to the NPA remnants to surrender before it will be too late for them to do so.
“The government is always open to those rebels who would want to go back to the folds of the law,” Arevalo stressed.
At the same time, he also commended all 3ID soldiers for their exemplary performance and contribution in winning the fight against the CPP-NPA, as he urged them to maintain the gains of the Division’s peace drive guided by its campaign mantra “Loved by the people, feared by the enemy.”*
