Activist really an NPA leader, says military

DIGOS CITY, Philippines—Government operatives arrested an antimining activist in South Cotabato, claiming that he was a ranking officer of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in southeastern Mindanao.

Capt. Alberto Caber, spokesman of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City, said antimining activist Romeo “Ging” Rivera was actually “notorious NPA front secretary Felix Armodia who operated in Davao del Sur, South Cotabato and Tulunan, North Cotabato.”

Caber said Armodia was arrested in Barangay (village) San Roque in Tampakan, South Cotabato, around noon on May 2 by joint operatives of the Philippine Army and the police.

“He was responsible for the series of attacks on plantations and construction firms in the region that did not give in to their extortion demands,” he said.

Romeo Rivera is one of his aliases, Caber said in a text message to the Inquirer. He said the military was not mistaken about Armodia’s identity and that the arrest was made after a civilian tipped off authorities about (his) location.

Armodia has been slapped with charges of murder, robbery with violence and illegal detention, among others. He is detained at the Digos City police jail, Caber added.

Supt. Querubin Manalang, city police chief, confirmed the Digos police had custody of Armodia, adding that “it was up to the suspected rebel leader to prove his innocence in court.”

Opposed mining firm

On the other hand, Ryan Lariba, spokesman of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in the South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-General Santos City area, said that Rivera, 53, was a member of the antimining group Tampakan Panalipdan (Protect Tampakan), which has been vigorously opposing the presence of Xstrata’s Sagittarius Mines Inc. in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

Lariba said Rivera was forcibly taken by some 20 unidentified men who barged into his house in Koronadal City, tied him up and dragged him to one of three waiting trucks. He was struck with rifle butts, Lariba said.

“Socksargen (South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos) is now one of the most dangerous places for environmental activists in the country,” Lariba said.

The arrest comes less than two months after the alleged chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), Benito Tiamzon, and his wife, Wilma, were arrested with five others in Cebu.

There has been an increase in the number of deadly encounters with insurgents following the arrest of the Tiamzons.

Three soldiers were killed in an NPA ambush in the northern Philippines on Thursday, while three alleged NPA members were killed in a clash with troops in Mindanao on Wednesday.

Peace talks between the Maoist CPP-NPA and the government collapsed in April last year.—Germelina Lacorte, Karlos Manlupig and Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao; AFP