CAMP BANCASI, Butuan City – A joint military and police operation successfully led to the arrest of an alleged New People’s Army (NPA) extortionist in Purok 7, Sitio Miaray, Barangay Mandahikan, Cabanglasan, Bukidnon province, military reported Saturday.
In a statement sent to The Manila Bulletin on Saturday, Civil Military Operations (CMO) officer of Army’s 88th Infantry (Maringal) Battalion (88th IB) Capt. Norven Jay Garcia, identified the arrested suspect as Jean Pacino.
She was apprehended in her residence at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, the 88th IB CMO officer said.
The suspect was arrested during the implementation of a search warrant issued by Judge Rainier Eusebio D. Aquino of Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Lantapan-Cabanglasan, 10th Judicial Region dated July 22, 2020 against violation of RA 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act).
Seized in the operation were wo caliber-.45 pistols, one 12-Gauge shotgun, one steel magazine for a 12-gauge shotgun, two steel magazines for a caliber-.45 Pistol, and nine cartridges of a 7.62mm weapon.
The suspect is an alleged member of Sanga ng Partido sa Lokalidad (SPL) of Guerilla Front Malayag of Sub-Regional Committee 2 (GFM-SRC2) of the CPP-NPA North central Mindanao Regional Committee (NCMRC).
Meanwhile, 88th IB commander Lt. Col Franklin F. Fabic commended the joints efforts of AFP–PNP on the successful operation against the alleged extortionist.
“With the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act, we will ensure that each member of this NPA extortionist group will be punished,” he said. “We will hunt them down. The NPA has no place here in Bukidnon,” Lt. Col. Fabic added.