Top NPA leader Jorge Madlos already bedridden –military

Jorge Madlos, the top communist leader in Mindanao with a P5 million bounty on his head, has been suffering from kidney ailment and is now bedridden, the military claimed Wednesday.

“He is bedridden for quite some time now,” said Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, who relinguished his post as commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division to Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao.

“He was bedridden as early as first quarter of this year due to kidney problems,” he said.

Visaya said based on information from rebel returnees, Madlos is being moved from camp to camp to avoid military detection.

Aside from being the top leader of the New People's Army (NPA) in Mindanao, Madlos, also known as Ka Oris, is the spokesman of the National Democratic Front in the region.

Madlos, who is in his 60s and has been in the underground movement since the 1970s, is wanted for a number of crimes. He is the most prominent rebel leader after Benito Tiamzon, the chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and Tiamzon's wife Wilma Austria, the party's secretary general.

Tiamzon and Austria were arrested by government forces in Cebu last March.

Visaya said the communist movement may keep Madlos' true health condition confidential until they find a replacement for him.

“Until they are able to develop a next leader, they would delay this, just like in the case of Ka Roger,” he said, referring to the late rebel spokesman Gregorio Rosal, who passed away in 2001 due to heart attack. —KBK, GMA News