DAVAO CITY – Soldiers killed top New People’s Army leader Myrna Sularte, alias Maria Malaya and widow of the late NPA leader Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos, in an encounter in Barangay Pianing, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 12.
MYRNA Sularte, alias Maria Malaya, in her younger years.
Madlos was one of the old guards of the communist movement in Mindanao and was killed in an encounter with government forces in Bukidnon in October 2021.
Capt. Jonel Castillo, spokesperson of the Army 901st Brigade based in Placer, Surigao del Norte, confirmed over the phone that Sularte was killed in the gun battle.
Castillo added that Sularte was the secretary of NPA-Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee and a member of the political bureau of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Soldiers pursuing Sularte engaged her group in two encounters at 6:10 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.
Soldiers pursued her and was eventually killed in a gun battle at around 1 p.m. in the hinterlands of Sitio Imelda, Barangay Pianing.
Her death was a big blow to the rebel movement in Northeastern Mindanao and there are no other prominent figures left to assume leadership.
Following the death of her husband, Sularte had been the subject of focused military operations in the Caraga region and Northern Mindanao.
Sularte was a native of Bayugan City in Agusan del Sur and is one of the most wanted NPA leaders in the country due to multiple criminal charges, including rebellion, murder, multiple murder, and frustrated murder.