5 top Reds fall in Nueva Ecija

CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac — The Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) announced yesterday a "major breakthrough" in its counter-insurgency campaign after five top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) were captured in San Jose, Tarlac last Tuesday.

Nolcom said the five were captured by men of the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion in the house of one Petring Ancheta, said to be a sister of the San Jose mayor, in Barangay Mababanaba.

Nolcom said the captured rebels played a role in the violent dispersal that killed seven of the striking workers at the Cojuangco family-owned Hacienda Luisita last Nov. 16.

It, however, did not provide details on their alleged participation in the violent incident.

Maj. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, identified the captured CPP-NPA leaders as Neptali Santos, alias Mac or Atong, secretary of the Komiteng Larangang Gerilya (KLG) Front 2 of the NPA’s Tarlac provincial committee and head of the rebel movement’s provincial united front staff; Danny Rosal Ladera, alias Angel, leader of the KLG Front 2; Eugenia Magpantay, alias Emil or Reming, chairwoman of the NPA Central Luzon Regional Party Committee; Carlito Collado, leader of the KLG’s Gerilya Iskwad; and Anthony Romero, whom Nolcom described as a "seasoned organizer" in San Jose.

Tolentino said villagers tipped off the 703rd Infantry Brigade, headed by Col. Samuel Narcise, about the presence of the armed rebels in their area.

Narcise immediately alerted the 69th IB, led by Lt. Col. Ricardo Visaya, about it. — With James Mananghaya, Ric Sapnu, Len Espinosa and Artemio Dumlao