BIG BLOW. The arrest of squad leader Reneboy Pagon has dealt a further blow to the dismantled Southeast Front of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army in Negros. Lt. Col. Roderick Salayo, commanding officer of the 11th Infantry Battalion, said their relentless counter-insurgency operations has resulted in the dismantling of the guerrilla front. (Photo courtesy of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The arrest of a leader of a dismantled guerrilla front of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in southern Negros Oriental has dealt a further blow to its efforts to recover their area, an official of the Philippine Army said on Monday.
Lt. Col. Roderick Salayo, commanding officer of the 11th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, told the Philippine News Agency that the arrest of Reneboy Haniala Pagon last week has further weakened the insurgency movement in the south.
Pagon, 34, resident of Sitio Balascan in Barangay Napacao, Siaton town, was tagged as the leader of Squad 2 of the Southeast Front (SEF) under the Rachel Mae Palang Command.
He was arrested last Oct. 14 in Sitio Salingkubong, Barangay Tayak of the same town by virtue of arrest warrants for separate criminal offenses.
Salayo said the remnants of the dismantled SEF of the Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, Cebu, Bohol, and Siquijor continue to recruit members but relentless government efforts have prevented them from succeeding.
They are also definitely affected in general by the recent series of operations by government troops against the CPP-NPA, he said.
Some of them have also already signified their intent to surrender to authorities but Salayo said they are still “testing the waters”.
“The biggest impact on the SEF is that we are relentlessly pursuing them and it’s already been a year since we conducted continuous operations against them,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
Meanwhile, as part of the government’s effort to crush the insurgency through the Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (TF-ELCAC), the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO) previously said there are 75 standing warrants of arrest involving suspected CPP-NPA members. (PNA)
