DAVAO CITY and Manila—All police forces around the country were placed under heightened alert last Sunday following the military’s killing of the celebrated leader and highest commander of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Mindanao.
The military reported that George “Ka Oris” Madlos, who was said to be the spokesman for the whole national operations command (NOC) of the NPA and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)-Mindanao, was killed during an air and ground operations at Sitio Gabunan, Barangay Dumalaguing, Impasugong, Bukidnon, last October 30. Another NPA guerilla, Eighfel dela Pena, aka “Pika” and “Maui,” said to be an NPA-NOC communications and medical staff, also died during the assault, according to the military.
National Police chief General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar placed all police units and offices around the country on alert in anticipation of possible retaliatory attacks from rebels as a result of Madlos’s killing.
Major Gen. Romeo S. Brawner Jr., commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, told reporters that barangay residents tipped them of Madlos’s location in a secluded area in Impasugong.
Madlos was said to be a long-standing member both of the central committee and executive committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Elements of the 403rd Infantry Brigade under the 4th ID launched operations against the rebels at around 12:30 a.m. following what the military said reports by civilians about the presence of what was believed a composite team from the NOC of the CPP-NPA’S Mindanao Committee, Regional Operations Command and Guerilla Front 89 of the North Central Mindanao Regional Command.
Sympathies
AS government troops from the 8th Infantry Battalion and 1st Special Forces Battalion approached the camp of the rebels in a mountainous area of Sitio Gabunan, they detected that the camp’s perimeter had been laden with anti-personnel mines, prompting them to call in for airstrikes, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said.
At around 11:30 a.m., the troops clashed with the rebels and scoured the area where they discovered two bodies and recovered an M-14 rifle and a KG-9 rifle along with other war materiel and rebel documents.
Brawner later announced that one of the two bodies recovered was that of Madlos following identification and a revalidation.
Madlos’ death came a day after the military also killed Salahuddin Hassan, head of the Daulah Islamiya (DI) during an operation at Sitio Pinareng, Barangay Damablac, Talayan, Maguindanao.
Hassan, former leader and founder of the notorious Al-Khobar terrorist group, replaced Hatib Hadjan Sawadjaan as the leader of DI, the local front of the Islamic State in the country. Sawadjaan died during a firefight with soldiers in Sulu last year.
Documents given by the AFP said Madlos was wanted for criminal cases such as murder, multiple murders with double frustrated murder, robbery with double homicide and damage to properties.
While we have a different belief in addressing social problems, I personally extend my sympathies to Madlos’s family, Eleazar said.