TACLOBAN CITY -- The second-in-command of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (EVRPC) was arrested in a joint inter-agency operation by the 8th Infantry Division and the Philippine National Police on Tuesday, April 8, in Consolacion, Cebu.
ROMULO Micabalo (center) is read his rights after he was caught in Cebu.
Romulo Micabalo led the Regional Operations Command (ROC) and head of the Regional Operations Division (ROD) of the EVRPC.
Micabalo had standing warrants of arrest for two counts of kidnapping with serious illegal detention and robbery with violence against or intimidation of a person issued by Branch 7 of the Regional Trial Court in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur.
He was a former member of the Regional Sentro de Gravidad-Compaq of the North Central Mindanao Regional Party Committee (NCMRC) operating in Northern Mindanao.
Romulo is the son of Dionisio Micabalo, alias Muling, the top leader of the NCMRC who was killed in an encounter with government troops in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental on July 26, 2023.
According to reports, Ned orchestrated the burning of the Jipapad-Las Navas road construction equipment in Barangay Quirino and Barangay San Francisco, Las Navas, Northern Samar worth P32 million on July 29, 2021.
He was also the mastermind in the ambush of a soldier and three militiamen, the wounding of six militiamen who were constructing the detachment of 52nd Infantry Brigade in Barangay 4, Jipapad, Eastern Samar on July 29, 2021, and the attack on the Community Support Program Team securing the construction of school building in Barangay Dorillo, also in Jipapad, on October 7, 2022 that wounded a 10-year-old boy.
Major Gen. Camilo Ligayo, commander of the 8th ID, lauded the success of the inter-agency operations. He credited the accomplishment to the 8th ID's counterparts in ending the local communist armed conflict.
"The support of our partner stakeholders is the key to this achievement, as we continue to crack down the CTGs to their smallest formations. We will be relentless in our operations. We assure you that our people will be protected and freed from violence and atrocities by the CTGs," Ligayo said.