CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines —The police on Saturday said labor organizer Jose Bernardino, who was arrested a day earlier, was a high-ranking officer of the New People’s Army (NPA) wanted for rebellion and carried a P4.8-million bounty on his head.
Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon, Central Luzon police chief, said Bernardino, 58, was secretary of the region’s white area committee of the NPA.
He said Bernardino was carrying a pistol and a grenade when he was arrested on Friday at Barangay Sapang Maisac in Mexico town by a team from the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the military.
P4.8-M REWARD Jose Bernardino was shown briefly to reporters at Camp Olivas on Saturday, a day after his arrest in Mexico town, Pampanga province. —TONETTE OREJAS
With Piston members
Police Col. Amante Daro, CIDG regional director, said a warrant of arrest for Bernardino was issued in 2018 by Judge Paul Attolba Jr. of the Regional Trial Court Branch 30 in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya province.
Bernardino was charged with rebellion in connection with the killing of four soldiers in an encounter in Kasibu town in Nueva Vizcaya in 2017.
In 2006, Bernardino, an organizer of labor unions and transport groups, was arrested with six members of transport federation Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) on a charge of illegal possession of explosives.
Some of his former colleagues now working with the government provided information on his whereabouts and activities, Daro said.
The P4.8-million reward would be given to the informers and “action agents,” the police said.
Bernardino is also on a list of wanted persons issued by the Department of National Defense and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
‘Ka Bo’
Daro said the arrest was carried out “with regularity” and that medical attention would be given to Bernardino, who had undergone a quadruple heart bypass.
De Leon also announced the death of Fernando Poblacio Jr., an NPA officer who was also known as “Ka Bo” and “Bert,” in an encounter with policemen serving the warrant for his arrest at Barangay Moriones in San Jose, Tarlac province, on Friday night.
Poblacio was allegedly the NPA finance officer in Tarlac and Zambales provinces, according to Maj. Gen. Alfredo Rosario, head of the military’s Northern Luzon Command.
The police and the military are now searching for the four men who were seen with Poblacio on Dec. 2 at Barangay Labney in Mayantoc town, also in Tarlac, Rosario said.