COTABATO CITY — Policemen and soldiers arrested two senior leaders of the New People’s Army (NPA), wanted for high-profile criminal cases pending in courts, in a joint operation in Davao City on Saturday.
The Catholic station DXMS in Cotabato City reported on Monday morning that Benny Flores Mendoza and Francisco Rotol Sud-ongan are now locked in a detention facility of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-11 (CIDG-11).
Major Gen. Allan D. Hambala, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division (ID), told reporters in Cotabato City on Monday that operatives of the CIDG-11 and intelligence agents of the Davao City Police Office and 10th ID managed to locate the NPA officials in Isla Suerte in Barangay 76A in Talomo, Davao City with the help of informants, among them former NPAs who have returned to the fold of law.
Mr. Mendoza and Mr. Sud-ongan are both senior members of the executive committee of the NPA’s self-styled Southern Mindanao Regional Command, whose leaders are wanted for heinous crimes, including multiple murder and harboring of wanted persons.
Mr. Hambala said the warrants for their arrest were issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 11 and the RTC Branch 56 in Compostela, Davao de Oro. — John Felix M. Unson