CAMP BANCASI, Butuan City – The Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police said on Thursday, Feb. 13, that the death of New People’s Army leader Myrna Sularte, alias Maria Malaya, in Barangay Pianing, this city, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, is a strategic victory against the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA in Mindanao.
SULARTE
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/2/12/npa-leader-maria-malaya-wife-of-jorge-madlos-killed-in-butuan-clash
“The remaining small group of the NPA, armed wing of the CPP, is already in disarray after neutralizing their top leader during three separate engagements in their regional headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 12,” Brig. Gen. Michele B. Anayron Jr., 4th Infantry (Diamond) Division chief, and Police Regional Office-13 (PRO-13) Director Police Brig. Gen. Christopher N. Abrahano said.
Brig. Gen. Arsenio D.C. Sadural, commanding general of the 901st Infantry Brigade, said the neutralization of Sularte is a big loss to the communist movement in Mindanao.
“The 30th IB executed three successful operations, and decisively engaged the group of Ka Malaya at their regional headquarters, culminating in the capture of numerous items, CPP-NPA war documents, war materials and personal belongings,” said Sadural. “We have finally brought an end to the reign of terror in Caraga.”
Anayron commended the 30th Infantry Battalion under the 901st Brigade for neutralizing the highest NPA leader in the Caraga region. “We fervently hope that the neutralization of the highest leader of the CPP-NPA in the area will be the final straw, leading to the total surrender of the remaining members and the eventual end of the CPP-NPA in our area of responsibility.”
Sularte was the widow of the late Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, a prominent figure of the CPP-NPA National Operations Command who was killed in a gunbattle in Bukidnon province in October 2021.