Communist leader in Panay falls

ILOILO CITY—A top communist rebel in Western Visayas has been arrested by joint police and military operatives in Iloilo City early Saturday.

 
Concepcion “Concha” Araneta-Bocala, 64, was brought to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group where she was undergoing investigation.

 
Her two helpers were also arrested while several firearms and ammunition were recovered from the house.

 
Araneta-Bocala, who carries a bounty of P7.8 million for her arrest, is secretary-general of Communist Party of the Philippines-Panay Island Regional Party Committee.

 
She used to be married to former Board Member Pablito Araneta. They separated and she married Reynaldo Bocala, CPP finance officer. She was one of the pioneers of the First Quarter Storm activists who went underground during the declaration of martial law in 1972.

 
Senior Supt. Peter Naboye, CIDG Western Visayas chief, said the arrest of Araneta-Bocala was a product of more than a year of surveillance operation.

 
Joint police and military operatives from CIDG and Armed Forces of the Philippines cornered her in a house at Juntado Subdivision, in Barangay Calumpang, Molo District, early Saturday morning.

 
The arrest was done on the strength of an arrest warrant issued to Araneta-Bocala for a crime of murder issued by a court in Antique. She also faced a separate arrest warrant for rebellion issued by a court in Antique.