Top NPA leader, 14 others killed during EastMinCom op —AFP

A top leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) and 14 others were killed by the Eastern Mindanao Command in an operation, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Sunday.

The AFP reported that NPA top leader Ian Dela Rama, finance officer Rio Amor Yuson, platoon leader Paquito Namatidong, and political officer Peter Mansaginda Pinakilid were among those killed in a series of operations in Gingoog City and Agusan del Norte from May 10 to 13.

"Neutralizing four NPA leaders in a continuing operation will inevitably lead to not only the dismantling of a particularly notorious NPA group but to the weakening and eventual demise of other communist terrorist groups in eastern Mindanao," AFP Chief of Staff General Felimon Santos Jr. said in a statement.

The AFP said that the Eastern Mindanao Command had cleared out 16 major clusters composed of some 600 NPA members in remote barangays in Region X since 2019.

Of this number, 13 were neutralized in 2019 while three more were cleared out in 2020. — DVM, GMA News