Senior NPA leader killed in North Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — Soldiers shot dead a senior official of the New People’s Army in a gunfight on Saturday morning in Matalam town.

Zaldy Gulmatico Pulido, secretary of the NPA’s self-styled Guerilla Front 53-Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds.

The clash that resulted in Pulido's death erupted when he and his companions attacked a team of combined members of the Philippine Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion and the 62nd Division Reconnaissance Company of the 6th Infantry Division dispatched to verify the reported presence of NPAs in Barangay Arakan in Matalam, North Cotabato.

Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong of the Army’s 602nd Brigade covering North Cotabato province said Sunday local officials and leaders of the highland indigenous communities in the province have confirmed the identity of Pulido.

Pulido, more known by his nom de guerre Joel and Cobra, was tagged in heinous crimes, including large-scale extortion and bomb attacks in upland towns in North Cotabato.

“We are thankful to vigilant tipsters who informed us about their presence in Sitio Rudson, an interior area in Barangay Arakan,” Capulong said.

Capulong said soldiers found in the scene of the encounter mobile phones, NPA banners, the M16 assault rifle and belongings of Pulido, whose remains were immediately turned over to the Matalam municipal police.

Capulong said the group of Pulido is notorious in collecting revolutionary tax from hapless farmers in areas where they operate.