NPA leader among 4 dead in Cagayan clashes

BAGUIO CITY—A key official of the communist rebels in Cagayan Valley was among the four who were killed in a series of clashes between Army soldiers and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Peñablanca town, Cagayan province, on Wednesday, authorities said.

In a statement on Thursday, the military confirmed that Ariel Arbitrario, also known as Karl or Bogart, the regional secretary of the NPA’s Cagayan Valley Regional Committee (Komiteng Rehiyon Cagayan Valley or KRCV), was among the fatalities during the clashes in Peñablanca’s remote Barangay Baliuag.

“Arbitrario was the key leader of the communist rebels operating in the mountainous areas of the Cagayan Valley region,” Rogelio Sending, Cagayan provincial information officer, told the Inquirer Thursday.

The armed encounter broke out when a platoon from the Army’s 502nd Brigade under its 5th Infantry Division in Cagayan chanced upon a 17-member group from the KRCV, led by Arbitrario, during military security operations.

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Prolonged gunbattle

Sending said the bodies of Arbitrario and another rebel were discovered following the “prolonged gun battle” between the rebels and the government troops in the hinterlands of Peñablanca.

The two other slain communist rebels were earlier identified as “Ka Danielle,” also known as Nieves, a former student at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines who left school to join the rebel movement; and “Ka Jorly,” a resident of Barangay Bural in Rizal town, also in Cagayan.

The two rebels sustained gunshot wounds to the head and body, an initial report from the military showed.

After the brief exchange of gunfire, the rebels retreated, leaving behind the bodies of their fallen comrades.

As of Friday, Danielle’s body remained at a funeral parlor in Tuguegarao City, while Jorly’s remains have been handed over to his family in Rizal, Cagayan, the Army said.