Ranking CPP-NPA leader arrested in Aurora

A regional official of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing New People’s Army (NPA) has been arrested in Aurora province, police said Friday. Delfin Pimentel, also known as Crispin, Medy, Liben, Tanda, was cornered by a composite police-military team in Dingalan town of Aurora last Tuesday, said Director General Jesus Verzosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP). Versoza was quoted by a PNP press statement as saying that Pimentel is in the PNP’s "most wanted" list and has a P2.6-million bounty on his head. PNP records show that Pimentel is a member of the executive committee of the CPP-NPA’s Central Luzon Regional Committee (CLRC) and had been the secretary of the rebel group’s Aurora Provincial Committee since 2002. The PNP said the guerilla leader was behind the series of attacks against military in Aurora and was also involved in the killing of seven former NPA members who became government agents. Pimentel was with his wife, Imelda Estrella, also known as Cely, at the time of his arrest. Seized from them were two M-16 rifles, a shotgun, and three hand grenades, said the statement. His arrest was based on two separate warrants issued by the Baler Regional Trial Court for murder, multiple murder, and multiple frustrated murder, it said. Despite repeated claims by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that the CPP-NPA has become a "spent force," the outlawed movement is still considered by the government as a major threat to national security. - Aie Balagtas See, GMANews.TV