PNP checking more cases vs top Bicol reb

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is checking other pending cases against a ranking communist leader in the Bicol region who was arrested in a cockpit in Sta. Maria, Bulacan last Wednesday.

In a report, the PNP said its intelligence agents are expecting several witnesses and cases to surface since Iglecerio Pernia, alias Ka Choy, has been linked to several killings of former rebels, soldiers, policemen and innocent civilians.

Pernia, tagged as Bicol’s most wanted person, is the secretary of the Albay provincial party committee of the New People’s Army and a member of the Bicol executive committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines, according to the Region 5 police command.

Sources said Pernia, considered one of the elusive NPA leaders, allegedly used his position to disburse party funds for his own personal benefit, as he bought houses outside the Bicol region and luxurious vehicles, using fictitious names.

Reports said a number of Pernia’s underlings had grown disenchanted of his misuse of millions of pesos, which the underground movement had amassed from permit-to-campaign fees during the last elections and extortion of businesses in the region.

In a report to Camp Crame, Senior Superintendent Eliciar Bron, spokesman of the Bicol police, said Pernia did not resist arrest when a combined team of the Sta. Maria police, the Bulacan and Central Luzon police intelligence offices, Military Intelligence Group 3 and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines cornered him in a cockpit in Sta. Maria town.

Pernia, according to the PNP report, sought refuge in Bulacan after government forces had intensified their military offensive in Bicol, particularly in Albay.