Mindanao’s Top NPA leader killed

DAVAO DE ORO, Jan. 6 (PIA) - - Personnel of the Philippine Army killed the top leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Mindanao in an encounter in Mabini town, Davao de Oro, January 5, 2022.

According to the report from the 10^th Infantry Division, Menandro Villanueva alias Bok sustained several gun shots leading to his death during an armed battle with the 1001^st Infantry Brigade and the members of the Regional Headquarters, Southern Mindanao Regional Command (RHQ,SMRC) in Barangay Libudon, Mabini.

The encounter was a result of the continued focused military operations of the brigade since September 2021.

Villanueva is the longest-serving Secretary of Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC), currently the Secretary of Komisyong Mindanao (KOMMID), Commanding Officer of the NPA’s National Operations Command (NOC), and member of the POLITBURO of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Reports said that Villanueva is one of the founding members of the NPA in Mindanao during the 1970s together with a certain Edgar Jopson. He supervised the operations of the CPP/NPA in the whole of Mindanao and directly controlled the operations of the communist armed group as head of the National Operations Command of the NPA.

Brigadier General Jesus P Durante III, 1001^st Infantry Brigade commander, said that his death brings justice to the victims of the more than 50 years atrocities of the NPA.

The general urged the fleeing NPAs, “Surrender now while you still can. Don’t wait to suffer the same fate as Menandro Villanueva. The government is always willing to accept you if you decide to return to the folds of the law.”

Currently, troops of the brigade are still conducting pursuit operations to the remaining NPA members in the area.

Major General Ernesto Torres Jr, commander of the 10^th Infantry Division, said that the NPAs are losing support from the communities in the Mindanao.

“They have nowhere to hide because the masses are already fed up with the abuses and extortion they perpetrated for more than five decades. The death of Menandro Villanueva signals that the end of the Communist insurgency in Mindanao is already at hand.” (PIA11, Michael Uy)

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