Joma, 16 others charged over Surigao attacks

BUTUAN CITY – Police and the military have filed charges of rebellion and robbery against self-exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison, the New People’s Army (NPA) spokesman in Mindanao and 15 others for the attacks on two police stations and a CAFGU detachment in Surigao del Norte last June 26.

Chief Superintendent Jaime Elorita Milla, Caraga police director, said the charges against Sison, NPA spokesman George Madlos alias Ka Oris and the 15 rebels were filed with the provincial prosecutor’s office.

The 15 guerrillas, aged 16 to 25, were captured during hot pursuit operations by a joint team of the police and the Army’s 4th Infantry Division on Panatao Island in Claver, Surigao del Norte.

The rebels sought refuge in Panatao after swooping down on the police stations in Dapa and General Luna towns on Siargao Island and ransacking their armories of several firearms.

Maj. Michele Anayron Jr., spokesman of the 4th ID, said the attackers belong to the Pulang Diwata Command of the Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-NPA.

Two policemen were killed and two others were wounded in a series of firefights with the NPA attackers.

Police said the firefights also left 12 rebels dead and three others wounded. No bodies, however, were recovered.

Authorities said the attacks in Siargao were so far the biggest in Surigao del Norte, as the insurgents also raided government offices and destroyed a communications tower in Dapa town.

Milla did not present the 15 captured rebels when he announced the filing of the charges against them, in the presence of visiting PNP Deputy Director General for Administration Jesus Versoza.