Wounded NPA leader nabbed in Bukidnon hospital —AFP

A suspected leader of the New People's Army (NPA) seeking treatment for wounds he allegedly sustained in an encounter was arrested by the military and the police on Saturday morning.

Major Ezra Balagtey, spokesperson of the Armed Forces' Eastern Mindanao Command, identified the suspected NPA leader as Elizalde Cañete alias Jinggoy.

Balagtey said Cañete was arrested while seeking medical treatment at the Don Carlos Doctors Hospital in Don Carlos, Bukidnon at around 10 a.m.

The military said Cañete was seeking treatment for wounds he sustained durin an encounter with troops in Kitaotao town, also in Bukidnon province, last Thursday.

Balagtey said members of the 1003rd Infantry Brigade and the town's policemen served a warrant of arrest on Cañete, who is facing charges of multiple murder and arson.

He said Cañete had been previously arrested in 2010 after being wounded in an encounter in Compostela Valley, but jumped bail in 2013 and allegedly rejoined the NPA.

Balagtey said Cañete is currently the leader of Pulang Bagani Company 1 of the New People's Army's Southern Mindanao Regional Command, which covers Bukidnon, Davao del Norte and Davao City.

The PBC1 was headed by the infamous Leoncio Pitao alias Kumander Parago, who was killed in an encounter with the military in Davao City in 2015. —ALG, GMA News