Former NPA official arrested in Bukidnon

November 14, 2020

A  former high-ranking official of the New People's Army (NPA) was arrested by government forces in Bukidnon on Thursday, a military official said Saturday.

Maj. Alex Mindalano, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman, said arrested was Marcos Requina alias Ali or Tomas, 60, former head of Intelligence and secretary of the Front Committee KARA of the Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee.

Mindalano said Requina who is in the most wanted list of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of National Defense (DND) with a bounty of P 2 million was arrested in a joint operation in his home at So. Bakayan, Brgy Sagundanon, Kitaotao  around 5:30 am.

"Requina was arrested inside his abode by the combined forces of the Police Regional Office 11 , the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA-11) Intelligence Service of Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), and the 16th Infantry Battalion, 31st Infantry Battalion, 102nd Division Reconnaissance Company ,1002nd Infantry Brigade and the 10th Infantry Division under the Eastern Mindanao Command " he said.

Requina is the 23rd most wanted communist terrorist under the DND-DILG Joint Order Reward 14-2012 and has a warrant of arrest for murder issued by Judge Renerio Ramas of the Regional Trial Court Branch 18 in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur,  Mindalano said,

Requina's activities were on and off and he held several key positions over the past years such as becoming a squad leader, platoon medic, and Fully Kalihim of Front Committee KARA," he added.

Mindalano said prior to his arrest, Requina "was recruited as the platoon medic of Guerrilla Front 53 (GF53) of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC) and had served the armed group until 2015 before he became inactive until the present."

 Requina is under the custody of the Police Regional Office 11 and is undergoing a medical examination. He is slated to be turned over to Region 9 for the proper disposition of the case, Mindalano said.

Lt. Gen Jose Faustino, Jr.,  Eastmincom chief, said “every arrest of a key CNT personality brings us one step closer to becoming an armed-conflict-free country.” Robina Asido/DMS