2 Military Informants Get Rewards For Capture Of NPA Leaders In South RP

Western Mindanao Command chief Marine Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, assisted by Army Brig. Gen. Ricardo Garcia, rewarded P1.3 million to one of two masked informants on Saturday, February 02, 2008 in Zamboanga City for helping capture two senior leaders of the communist rebel group National People's Army in southern Philippines. The Philippine military vowed to crush communist insurgency in the country where security forces are also fighting Muslim secessionist rebels in Mindanao, south of Manila. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 02, 2008) - The Philippine military rewarded over one million pesos to two civilians who helped capture two senior communist rebel leaders in Mindanao island, officials said.

“These two civilians are heroes. They helped us capture two terrorist leaders,” Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, commander of the Western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Allaga handed the rewards to the two masked informants inside the military base and said the government’s Rewards for Justice Program is a big boost to ongoing anti-insurgency campaign in the southern Philippines.

“We really need the help of every body in this campaign. We need the help of the people in winning this war against terrorism and bring peace to the land,” he said.

Allaga handed a total of P1.3 million to the two men, both wearing a ski mask and sunglasses to hide their identities. Then men did not say any word or speak to reporters and were immediately whisked by soldiers out of the conference room where the ceremony took place.

Allaga said the two informants helped in the capture of Saturnino Roda alias Ka Dory, of the New People’s Army, in the town of Guipos in Zamboanga del Sur on August last year.

The other rebel leader, Joe Paculba, also known by his nom de guerre Ka Joel, was arrested a month later after Roda’s fall in Calamba town in Misamis Occidental.

“The arrest was pursued through the cooperation of the civilian informants who provided the Armed Forces of the Philippines sensitive and vital information about the two communist terrorist leaders,” Allaga said.

Allaga said there is an ongoing operation against the NPA and other terror groups, such as the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya and its local affiliate, the Abu Sayyaf.

Maj. Eugene Batara, a regional military spokesman, said the two rebel leaders are now in jail and facing criminal charges in connection with attacks on government and military targets in Mindanao.

Last month, Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon vowed to crush NPA fronts in the country and neutralize the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, which broke of peace talks with government in 2004 after the United States in Manila’s prodding added them to its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Rebel leaders said they would only resume peace negotiations if Washington removes them from the terror tag. (Ely Dumaboc and Arthur Abasolo)