by Miriam G. Desacada
Tacloban City–Second-ranked leader of terrorists group in Eastern Visayas was captured in a town of Cebu during a joint military-police operation spearheaded by troops of the 8th Infantry Division on Monday (April 8).
According to Captain Jefferson Mariano, chief of the 8ID Public Affairs Office, the terrorists’ leader was Romulo Micabalo, alias Ned/Lukad, who the joint inter-agency troops apprehended at Barangay Pitogo of Consolacion, Cebu.
Mariano said Ned/Lukad has standing warrants of arrest—issued by Judge Fernando Fudulan Jr of the Regional Trial Court-Branch 07 in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur—for two counts of kidnapping with serious illegal detention and for robbery with violence against or intimidation of person.
Ned/Lukad is the head of the Regional Operations Command of the Regional Operations Division of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (EVPRC), which carried out various atrocities in the region. He was also a former member of the North Central Mindanao Regional Party Committee (NCMRPC).
The arrested terrorist is the son of the late Dionisio “alias Muling” Micabalo, NCMRPC head who was killed in an encounter with government troops at Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental on July last year.
Mariano added that Ned/Lukad was identified as the leader in the burning of the P32-million road construction equipment at Barangays Quirino and San Francisco in Las Navas, Northern Samar on July 29, 2021.
Ned/Lukad had been named also as the leader in the ambush, that same day, at Jipapad, Eastern Samar, where a soldier and three CAFGU Active Auxiliaries (CAAs) were killed and six other CAAs were wounded.
He further led the October 7, 2022 attack on the Community Support Program team that was constructing a school building also in Jipapad where a 10-year-old child got injured in the assault.
Major General Camilo Ligayo, commander of the 8ID, lauded his troops for the successful inter-agency operations, with the help of their counterparts in Cebu for the goal of ending armed conflicts with local communist terrorists groups (CTGs).
“The support of our partner stakeholders is the key to this achievement, as we continue to crack down the CTGs to their smallest formations. We will be relentless in our operations. We assure you that our people will be protected and freed from violence and atrocities by the CTGs,” declared Ligayo.
He added: “To the remaining cadres of the EVRPC, give peace a chance and take advantage of the comprehensive program of the government to start a peaceful life.”
The general emphasized that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order (EO) 47 to revise EO 25 of 2021, establishing the National Amnesty Commission (NAC).
He said Marcos granted amnesty to those who “committed crimes in pursuit of political beliefs” especially to former members of the CCP, NPA, NDF, and their various leftist affiliates, and even those in the Moro Islamic and National Liberation Fronts.
Las Navas Mayor Arlito Tan, who heads the Municipal Task Force to Endo Local Communist Armed Conflict (MTF-ELCAC), told the local media that the capture of Ned/Lukad is a positive sign that the CTGs in the province will be neutralized soon.
Hoping this will encourage you to finally return to the folds of the law and your families. You have our assurance that we will help you as you embark on your renewed normal life, the mayor said in Tagalog.
Tan assured the public that he will continue to support the initiatives of the government and the ELCAC, not only in his town but also in the entire Eastern Visayas region. “Dito, kapayapaan ang tunay na kailangan,” said the mayor. —Miriam G. Desacada