Cops free rebel leader’s wife arrested by soldiers

BACOLOD CITY—Soldiers on Thursday arrested the wife of a rebel leader in southern Negros, who is allegedly also a leader of the New People’s Army in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.

But Mary Jane Magkilat, alias Chin-Chin, was released shortly by police because there were no pending charges against her, said Lt. Col. Rodrigo Sosmena, 47th Infantry Battalion commander.

Magkilat allegedly headed the education bureau of a guerrilla unit operating in Negros Occidental. The military said she was also political officer of a guerrilla platoon headed by her husband, Reniel Cellon.

Sosmena said Magkilat was arrested by soldiers in Barangay Bantayan past 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Soldiers turned Magkilat over to police but she was released about 9 p.m. when police found no criminal case pending against her. Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas