2 suspected ranking communist officials arrested in Bohol

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Philippines — Two alleged ranking officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) were arrested by a joint team of police officers and soldiers in Barangay Tulang, Getafe town in Bohol on Saturday morning.

Rey Camacho, 51, and his wife Carmelita, 48, were arrested in their house at around 5:30 a.m. by virtue of a warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court in this city.

They would face charges of murder and illegal possession of firearms and explosives, respectively.

The couple were former NPA regional cadres in Central Visayas and were believed to be involved in extortion activities and recruitment of minors in the region, according to 1st Lt. Elma Grace Remonde, civil-military operations officer of the 47th Infantry Battalion based in Carmen town.

Rey — who reportedly used aliases such as Jeboy, Teddy, Chad, and Val — is reportedly the former Regional Operations Committee commander of Komite Rehiyonal- Central Visayas (KR-CENVIS) before being elevated to the NPA National Operations Command Staff.

His wife, Carmelita, also known as Maureen or Inday, served as a finance staff member of KR-CENVIS before she became the head of the National Commission Special Operations Group (SOG) for the Visayas.

At present, she serves as a staff member of the National Finance Commission, the military said.

Recovered from their possession were two laptops, two .38-caliber revolvers, a .45 caliber pistol, two hand grenades, a hard case containing various explosives, detonating cords, blasting caps, 15 cellular phones, several flash drives, subversive propaganda documents, sacks of butane, and camping paraphernalia.

The suspects were placed under the custody of the Bohol police.

/atm