Top communist leader from Cebu nabbed

DUMAGUETE CITY—A female communist leader from Cebu was arrested while two soldiers were wounded in separate operations on Negros Island on Saturday.

Marilyn Badayos was collared at a pension house in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, by joint police and military teams about 9 a.m.

A native of barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City, Badayos was allegedly the head of the Southeast Front of the Central Visayas Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (NPA).

She reportedly replaced her brother, Danilo Badayos, after the latter was arrested in Dumaguete City in October 2010, according to Lt. Col. Christopher Tampus, public information officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Central Command (Centcom) based in Cebu City.

Tampus said the arrest of Badayos stemmed from the warrant issued by Judge Ananson Jayme of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 63 in Bayawan City, Negros Occidental, on Jan. 14, 2010 for charges of rebellion.

She also had another arrest warrant for murder was issued by RTC Branch 61 in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, for rebellion.

Tampus said Marilyn Badayos headed the NPA southeast front in Negros Oriental but decided to hide in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, apparently to heal her wounds sustained during an encounter with the military in Sta. Catalina town, Negros Oriental, on May 3.

An Army officer was killed in the encounter between soldiers and about 30 NPA members at Sitio Avocado, Barangay Talalak, Sta. Catalina.

“She lay low after she was hit in the encounter on May 3,” Tampus said.

A joint team from the Bacolod City Police Office and the 303rd Infantry Brigade found Badayos inside a pension house along Narra Street in Bacolod about 6 a.m. on Saturday.

Charges

She was detained at the police station 4 to face charges.

Recovered from her possession were documents with high intelligence value, assorted letters and personal belongings, said Tampus.

About three hours before her arrest, a group of soldiers chanced upon 15 suspected communist rebels in Barangay Banawe, Pamplona town in Negros Oriental about 5:30 a.m.

Two soldiers were hurt during the 40-minute gun battle that ensued.

A bullet gazed the face of 1st Lt. Mark Anthony Calamba, platoon leader of the Bravo Company of the 79th Infantry Battalion while Pfc. Romel Siangco was hit in the leg, said Tampus.

He said some rebels were also wounded in the encounter based on the traces of blood found on the site of the encounter.

“The encounters on Negros Island is in line with the AFP Oplan Bayanihan which is to conduct sustained combat and noncombat operation against the NPAs to clear the area from any threat,” he added.

Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr., Western Visayas police director, said policemen under the Public Safety Management Company of Iloilo and Capiz provinces would be deployed to the hinterland villages of Passi City in Iloilo and the towns of Dumarao, Dumalag and Tapaz in Capiz.

Querol said there have been sustained attacks by NPA rebels this month, mostly harassment operations against military detachments. Police and military units have also monitored an increase in sightings of NPA rebels in these areas.