NPA leader killed, 2 arrested in Sultan Kudarat
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 23:45 PM Fri Jul 28, 2023
719
By:
John M. Unson
Rowie Libot, wanted for more than a dozen cases, died on the spot from bullet wounds.
COTABATO CITY - An senior official of the New People’s Army long wanted for high-profile criminal cases was killed while two others were arrested in separate Army operations Thursday in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat.
Brig. Gen. Michael A. Santos, commander of the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade, told reporters Friday the slain communist terrorist group leader, Rowie Libot, perished in a brief clash with personnel of the 37th Infantry Battalion in an upland area in Barangay Lemulan in Kalamansig town.
Libot and his companions opened fire first on soldiers dispatched to check on reports by villagers about his presence in the area, sparking a gunfight that resulted in his death.
Local officials and leaders of indigenous groups in hinterlands in Sultan Kudarat province have reported to the 37th IB that Libot was a senior NPA leader who first operated in Davao de Oro and Davao Oriental provinces and relocated to Sultan Kudarat in 2017 after different courts in both provinces issued warrants for his arrest for heinous offenses.
Soldiers found beside his cadaver, left by companions as they fled in haste, two M14 assault rifles, a fragmentation grenade and a bag full of components for improvised explosive devices.
Two other CTG members were cornered and detained by 37th IB personnel after a brief shootout earlier the same day in Barangay Hinalaan also in Kalamansig, a seaside town in Sultan Kudarat province in Region 12.
The duo, now in the custody of the local police, voluntarily yielded to soldiers when they sensed that they had been surrounded, abandoned by companions who immediately managed to scamper away.
The 37th IB and the Kalamansig Municipal Police Station withheld the identities of the two detained CTG members pending the filing of cases against them for illegal possession of assault rifles and grenades.