Top NPA leader slain in North Cotabato

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Security forces shot dead a female senior communist rebel leader after a gunfight erupted while policemen and soldiers were trying to arrest her in North Cotabato’s Makilala town, an army spokesman said Saturday.

Lt. Col. Ezra Balagtey, of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said Juanita Gore Tacadao was killed in the Friday clash in the village of Malabuan where security forces tracked down her hideout.

Military photos released to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner show the body of the slain NPA leader Juanita Gore Tacadao.

Tacadao was the regional logistic head and finance chief of the New People’s Army which has been fighting for many decades now for the establishment of a Maoist state. She was facing a string of criminal charges, mostly murder and robbery cases, in Davao del Sur province. Balagtey said other rebels managed to escaped, but troops were pursuing them. “Tacadao’s NPA security scampered after a five-minute skirmish leaving her dead body behind. Troops recovered an M14 rifle, one .38-caliber pistol and an improvised explosive device, including a pair of blasting caps, and a roll of detonating cord,” he said. Balagtey said civilian informants tipped off soldiers on Tacadao’s hideout. “Tacadao’s neutralization came about after the community provided information on their whereabouts,” he said without further elaborating. There was no immediate statement from the rebel group. (Rhoderick Beñez)

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