VICE PRESIDENT and Education Secretary Sara Duterte praised the police and the military following the arrest of high-ranking New People’s Army leader Eric Jun Casilao on April 17.
Duterte, in her statement, said, “Let me congratulate the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the other government agencies behind the arrest of Eric Casilao on Monday.”
According to the report, Casilao was arrested at the Langkawi immigration check-in counter in Malaysia last April 1 while en route to Thailand via a ferry boat using fake travel documents.He was deported to Manila on April 17.
Casilao, reportedly the secretary of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has existing arrest warrants for murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and serious illegal detention.
Local authorities described Casilao as one of the most notorious NPA leaders who orchestrated numerous terroristic activities in the Davao Region.
He carried a P5.4 million bounty on his head.
“He holds an important position in the terrorist organization New People’s Army — actively hatching plans to attack government forces and infrastructures, attack civilian communities and the killing of Lumad leaders, and the forcible collection of extortion money from mining and agribusiness companies,” she said.
The Vice President said the “ideology of violence” espoused by the communist group had already claimed many lives and disrupted violence in the countryside.
Moreover, she said that the arrest is only the beginning of the fight for justice for the victims of the bloodbath and other forms of violence perpetrated by the terrorist NPA headed by Mr. Casilao across many parts of Mindanao, including the regions of Davao and Caraga.
“I am glad that finally, Mr. Casilao has fallen, and I hope that all who died because of Mr. Casilao will get justice,” she further said.
For now, Casilao is under the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) XI.
