3 alleged NPA rebels die in shootout with cops, soldiers in QC

MANILA, Philippines — Two alleged high-ranking leaders and a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) were killed in an encounter with joint military and police units serving warrants of arrest in their safe house in Quezon City.

Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, acting director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said in a press briefing Friday that operatives were serving arrest warrants for destructive arson, murder, frustrated murder, and rebellion against Eleuterio Agmaliw alias Nick or Omeng, and an arrest warrant for rebellion against Freddie Daileg alias Poldo around 4 a.m. Thursday in Barangay Nagkaisang Nayon in Novaliches.

A report from the Philippine Army said the two men resisted arrest and even fired shots at the military and police, prompting a 45-minute gunfight.

Both suspects were killed in the encounter, along with Lucio Carbonel, the owner of the safe house and allegedly the rebel leaders’ “contact” in Metro Manila. Sinas said Carbonel was posing as a tricycle driver to conceal his identity.

Two members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team were wounded from the shootout and are now recovering at the Philippine National Police-General Hospital at Camp Crame, according to Sinas.

Recovered from the crime scene were a caliber .38-revolver, an M16 rifle, a caliber .45-pistol, and an MK2 hand grenade, police said.

Sinas said Agmaliw is an active member of the NPA Central Luzon Revolutionary Committee, a former deputy secretary of Northeastern Provincial Committee, and a commanding officer of Kilusang Larangan Guerrilla (KLG) Caraballo and KLG Sierra Madre.

He also said that among the atrocities committed by the KLG Caraballo under the leadership of Agmaliw in 2017 and 2018 include extortion, IED explosion, arson, and ambush of a police patrol car.

Meanwhile, Sinas said that Daileg was also a member of the Central Luzon Revolutionary Committee, deputy secretary of the Larangan Guerrilla Platoon 1, and had previously operated in Nueva Ecija.

Three others identified as Cherry Lou Soniga Carbonel, Josephine Carbonel, and John Paul Mandi, who were in the safe house during the operation, were arrested and brought to the Novaliches Police Station to face charges for obstruction of justice and harboring wanted persons.

Edited by KGA