BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
An alleged leader of the Komiteng Rehiyonal- Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siquijor (KR-NCBS) and two of his companions were captured yesterday in Sitio Tondo, Brgy. Su-ay, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, during a joint operation of the Philippine Army and National Police that also yielded firearms and explosives.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, identified the arrested Negros Island rebel leader as Ramon Patriarca, former deputy secretary of the KR-NCBS, and his two companions, namely John Michael Baldonado, of Brgy. Bulado, Guihulngan City and Carmen Jonahville Matarlo of Arago, Cebu.
Pasaporte disclosed that Patriarca has 10 pending arrest warrants for murder issued by Judge Suseco Arcam of Regional Trial Court Branch 47 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.
Patriarca is presently the finance officer of KR-NCBS, according to the police.
Their arrests yielded a KG-9 automatic pistol with two magazines loaded with ammunition, two .45 caliber pistols, two fragmentation grenades, 25 cellular phones, a National Democratic Front flag, 310 live ammunition of AK-47 assault rifles, assorted subversive documents and identification cards.
In 2009, Patriarca, then deputy secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Sentral Bisayas, was arrested for rebellion charges in Consolacion town of Cebu.
But he was released from a jail in Cebu after the court dismissed the rebellion charges filed against him in 2014.
Pasaporte said that Matarlo served as a staff member of Patriarca, while Baldonado is a member of Central Negros (Front) 1, known as the Leonardo Panaligan Command.
Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 3rd Infantry Division commander, said that the arrest of Patriarca would further weaken the leadership and organization of KR-Negros.
“It is the usual lesson we tell to the NPA, either they go to the folds of law and surrender, or get caught and jailed, or die in an encounter” Arevalo, who supervises Army infantry units assigned in Regions 6 and 7, said.
Just like the story of Frank Fernandez, former KR-Negros secretary. No matter how long it took, he ended up getting arrested, Arevalo further said.
He added that Army troops will continue to be relentless in running after these NPA rebels, especially that election day is nearing. “We don’t want the NPA to pursue their extortion scheme against candidates, threaten or harass them,” Arevalo stressed.
Patriarca and two others were captured by 94th Infantry Battalion under the 303rd Infantry Brigade, 6th Special Action Force Battalion, Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6, Provincial Intelligence Unit of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, Himamaylan City and Binalbagan Police Station.*
