by Miriam G. Desacada
TACLOBAN City— Two high-ranking officials of the terrorists groups—Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), based in Eastern Visayas (Region 8)—were captured in joint military-police operations at San Jose del Monte, Bulacan on Friday (May 26) morning.
Captain Jefferson Mariano, spokesperson of the Catbalogan, Samar based-8th Infantry Division (8ID) shared the news to the regional media, and named the arrested terrorists leaders as Rosita Solayao Taboy, alias Laling, and her husband, Antonio Pondang Legaspi, alias Beto.
Mariano, also chief of the 8ID Public Affairs Office, said Taboy was a secretary of the CPP-NPA’s regional organizational department and executive committee member of its regional party in Eastern Visayas. She also served as a member of the National Democratic Front’s finance commission, said the 8ID official.
Legaspi was a demolition expert of the CPP-NPA-NDF national operations command, according to Mariano in a meeting with the local media, adding that the two had been taken to Camp Crame of the PNP in Quezon City for processing.
Mariano said items confiscated from the possession of the two arrested terrorists were a .45-caliber pistol, a .38-caliber revolver, a C4 bomb, blasting caps, assorted cellphones, a laptop, and subversive documents.
Military sources said the arrested terrorists have pending cases in court and have standing warrants of arrest issued by the Basey (Samar) Municipal Trial Court on October 1990 for the crime of multiple murder, warrant issued by the MTC of Paranas, Samar in 1995 for multiple frustrated murder, and another warrant issued by the RTC-Laoang, Northern Samar for frustrated murder.
Mariano further said the couple were allegedly responsible behind the various atrocities carried out by the terrorists in Eastern Visayas, such as the burning of the Smart Communications tower in Catbalogan City on January 2000, the killing of CAFGU member Danilo Nuguit in September 2006, and the December 2010 ambush in Samar that killed 10 soldiers and a 9-year-old boy.
Major General Camilo Ligayo, commander of the 8ID, in a statement said the arrest of the Taboy-Legaspi couple, Alias Laling and alias Beto, is another victory of the combined efforts of the PNP and AFP in the pursuit of peace and security in our country.
“This is a great development in attaining justice in honor of the victims of violence perpetrated by the CPP-NPA in Eastern Visayas,” Ligayo said adding that the downfall of the terrorist groups is now more evident as their top leaders are either captured or killed, or have surrendered voluntarily. —Miriam G. Desacada