BUTUAN CITY – The Agusan del Sur Police Provincial Office (ADSPPO) reported Tuesday the arrest of a top New People’s Army (NPA) official in the province.
Police served a warrant of arrest for multiple criminal charges on Julita Galario Domingo, 47, in Barangay Langkian, Trento, Agusan del Sur, on Monday.
“Domingo is classified as a Top 6 Communist Terrorist Group priority target at the regional level and wanted for the crimes of murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder,” Col. Jovito Canlapan, ADSPPO OIC director, said in a statement.
Canlapan said Domingo has 10 arrest warrants for murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder issued in July last year by a regional court in Bayugan City.
Police and military authorities described her as the finance officer and secretary of the NPA’s Sub-Regional Committee 3 of the North Central Mindanao Regional Committee.
Domingo was among the NPA rebels encountered by the troops of the Army’s 26th Infantry Battalion (26IB) in August 2020 in Barangay San Vicente, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur.
The clash resulted in the death of an army officer and the wounding of some soldiers.
Domingo was also tagged in another encounter incident between the NPA rebels and 26IB troopers on October 1, 2020, in the same barangay.
Domingo’s arrest was another major setback for the NPA rebels, increasing the list of rebel officials, members, and supporters neutralized by the government troops.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The National Democratic Front has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973. (PNA)