An alleged female communist rebel was arrested in a law enforcement operation at the Quezon Boulevard checkpoint in Kidapawan City, Cotabato, on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 22.
Col. Gabriel C Viray III, commander of the 901st Infantry Brigade, identified the suspect as Mindaley Santeses Genotiva, who goes by the aliases Karla, Manang, and Liz, head of the Sub-Regional Urban Committee and Regional Tax Implementing Group of the NPA.
She was allegedly operating in the northern part of Cotabato Province, Southern Bukidnon, and north-western part of Davao City.
The inter-agency group was armed with following warrants of arrest against the suspect:
• Murder (Crim. Case # 4451-2017) dated Dec. 11, 2017
• Two-counts of frustrated murder (Crim Case# 4338-2017 and 4339-2017) dated Sept. 22, 2017
• Five counts of attempted murder (Crim. Case nos. 4333-2017, 4334-2017, 4335-2017, 4336-2017 and 4337-2017)
All were signed by Judge Henelinda J. Molina-Diaz of RTC-12, Branch 61 in Kidapawan City.
As confirmed by former rebels, the suspect was in charge of the NPA’s extortion scheme, victimizing businessmen down to lowly paid laborers. Big companies were forced to pay no less than P300,000 each month.
Furthermore, she was also one of the leaders in the violent mass rally in Kidapawan in April 2016, which lead to deaths of some rallyists and injury to police officers.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Felimon T. Santos Jr., commander of Eastern Mindanao Command, attributed the arrest to the collaborative effort of different agencies.
“This will bring justice to the victims of her atrocities and extortion,” Santos said.
He then warned the remaining communist guerrilas who continue to fight the government. “We will not allow you to put our communities in jeopardy and hamper their economic growth. We will use all assets and legal means available to us to bring you to the bar of justice and stop your evil acts,” he said.
