GOVERNMENT troops arrested the second highest New People’s Army (NPA) leader in Eastern Visayas in Consolacion, Cebu last Monday, the military reported on Tuesday night.
Romulo Micabalo, who carries the aliases Ned and Lucad, was nabbed by soldiers and policemen in Barangay Pitogo on the strength of arrest warrants for two counts of kidnapping with serious illegal detention and robbery with violence or intimidation of personnel issued by a court in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur.
The Army’s 8th Infantry Division (ID) described Micabalo as a “notorious leader of the Regional Operations Command and head of the Regional Operations Division of the EVRPC (Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee).”
The military said Micabalo is “responsible for the numerous CTG (communist terrorist group) atrocities in Eastern Visayas.”
He is a former member of the Regional Sentro De Gravidad-Compaq, or the North Central Mindanao Regional Party Committee (NCMRC), operating in Northern Mindanao.
The NCMRC was formerly headed by Micabalo’s father, Dionisio Micabalo, alias Muling, who died in a clash with government troops in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental on July 26 last year.
The military said the arrested NPA leader orchestrated the burning of construction equipment worth P32 million in Las Navas, Northern Samar in July 2021, the killing of a soldier and three militiamen and the wounding of six other militiamen in Jipapad, Eastern Samar also in July 2021.
Micabalo was also blamed for the attack on soldiers securing the construction of a school in Jipapad, EasternSAmar in October 2022, leading to the wounding of a 10-year-old child.
Maj. Gen. Camilo Ligayo, 8th ID commander, urged members of the EVRPC to surrender, saying: “To the remaining cadres of the EVRPC, give peace a chance and take advantage of the comprehensive program of the government to start a peaceful life.”
