Panay’s top NPA leader captured

ILOILO CITY, Philippines  – An alleged top leader of the communist movement in Panay with a P7.8 million bounty for her capture was arrested by a team of police and military officers in Molo district here on Saturday.

Maria Concepcion Bocala was arrested at around 5 a.m. at her home in Juntado Subdivision in Barangay Calumpang.

Bocala was said to be the secretary general for the Komiteng Rehiyon Panay of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

Her arrest was based on a warrant issued by a court in Aklan for murder.

Reports said Bocala also had a standing arrest warrant for rebellion issued by a court in Antique.

The bounty for Bocala was included under the joint reward list of the Department of National Defense and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The arresting team – composed of members of the Western Visayas police, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (ID) – recovered at least P200,000 in cash, a grenade, a .45 caliber pistol, a .22 caliber revolver, ammunition, a laptop computer, 13 mobile phones, computer hard drives, compact and floppy discs and a pair of binoculars from the suspect’s house.

Authorities said Bocala’s husband, Reynaldo, was said to be the deputy secretary of the NPA’s Komiteng Rehiyon Panay.

Maj. Ray Tiongson, spokesperson for the 3rd ID, said Bocala joined the movement in the 1970s.

Senior Superintendent Peter Naboye, chief of the CIDG-Region 6, said the suspect had been under surveillance for a year before she was arrested.

Naboye said they received information a week ago that the suspect was in Molo.

Bocala said she suffered bruises on her arm after she tried to prevent the raiding team from entering her house.

The raiding team said she did not resist arrest.

Tiongson said her arrest was a huge blow to the communist movement.

He said Bocala had been linked to several atrocities committed by the rebels in the region.