Top NPA leader caught in Alabang

MANILA, Philippines - A top communist rebel leader blamed for extorting “revolutionary taxes” from businessmen in the Philippines has been arrested in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, the Army said yesterday.

Eduardo Sarmiento headed the regional party committee in the central Visayas region for the communist New People’s Army (NPA) and had standing arrest warrants for various crimes, the Army said.

“ Sarmiento was arrested alone and in possession of high explosives and fake identification cards,” the Army said in a statement.

It said Sarmiento was arrested on Feb. 24 following a tip by former cadres.

The Army said Sarmiento headed a “nationwide extortion syndicate” operated by the NPA, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969 in one of Asia’s longest-running communist insurgencies.

“We expect more arrests soon, in our unrelenting campaign to crush this criminal organization,” the Army said.

The group frequently targets power and telecommunications infrastructure owned by firms that refuse to pay illegal “revolutionary taxes” demanded by the rebels. – Jaime Laude