A
ranking New People’s Army (NPA) leader in Iloilo City was arrested by the joint
operation conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine
National Police (PNP) yesterday.
The NPA leader was known as
Eduardo Almores Esteban with aliases ‘Bonnie’, ‘Benny’ and ‘Pilo’ was arrested
early morning yesterday in Brgy. Buntala, Jaro, Iloilo City. He was arrested by
virtue of a warrant of arrest for the murder case issued to him by Regional Trial
Court Branch 2, Bangued, Abra.
Esteban holds a high rank of
NPA. He is the Director of the Communication Bureau of the Central Committee of
the CPP-NPA and the former Secretary of the Ilocos Cordillera Regional Party
Committee of the CPP-NPA. He was reportedly
owns and manages several businesses within the city, while his comrades
suffer from hardship and continually struggling from the difficulty of life
while living in the mountain.
With his position in NPA, his
arrest will be a great disappointment to the CPP-NPA because of the successive arrest of their
other leaders. Last March, Tiamzon who is also an NPA leader was also arrested.
The successful operation was
under the command General Catapang’s instruction to finish-off rebellion and
claim the peace in rural communities to reach development and prosperity.The
arrested NPA leader will face charges of his cases and is sent to Bangued, Abra.
