The arrest of top communist leader Adelberto Silva will “cripple” the New People’s Army operations, the military has said.
“Although he is a secretary general, he was the overall leader in the Philippines so they are now crippled and it will affect their activities both in the political and underground movement,” Armed Forces public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
Silva took over the NPA leadership when Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, the Communist Party of the Philippines chair and secretary general, were arrested in Cebu in March last year.
“He does the planning and orchestrating of the operations so [with his arrest], the operations will be crippled,” Cabunoc said.
A source said that Silva’s close companion tipped off his whereabouts.
“It was a painstaking work lasting for months since last year. So it took almost a year [to arrest him],” the source said.
Communist rebels nationwide remained at about 4,000 in recent years. Its peak was about more than 26,000 in the 1908s. RC