The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday said the civilian informant who furnished information that led to the killing of three ranking communist rebel leaders would be P5.3-million richer.
AFP spokesman Col. Xerxes Trinidad said the windfall would come from the bounty on the head of Maria Concepcion Araneta Bocala alias Concha, reputedly the deputy secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyon-Panay (KR-P).
“To clarify, the rewards on the heads of top communist insurgents will be given to the informants,” Trinidad said.
Bocala, along with Vivian Torato Teodosio alias Mia, Babes and Mara, was slain in a 10-minute firefight with government forces last Aug. 15, killed in Brgy. Cabatangan, Lambunao, Iloilo
Bocala was also wanted by the law for alleged murder. She was arrested in 2015 but was given a safe conduct pass in light of the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front in Norway.
However, she allegedly went back to the hills in 2017 after the peace talks were stalled.
In 2019, she was convicted for murder by the Taguig City Regional Trial Court over a 1975 killing.
After the clash with Bocala’s group, elements of the Army’s 82nd Infantry Battalion discovered the decomposing body of another suspected New People’s Army guerilla leader, identified as Vicente Hinojales, regional secretary of KR-P
Hinojales’ death reportedly followed a series of clashes between the government forces and the KR-P, resulting in seven other high-ranking insurgents killed, among them Jose Jerry Tacaisan and Benjamin Cortel.
Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, lauded the troops for their efforts in running after the local communist insurgents, citing Executive Order No. 70, which implements a whole-of-nation approach to end local communist armed conflict.
Army spokesman Col. Louie Dem-aala said the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division will hand over the cash reward to the informant who initiated the neutralization of Bocala.
AFP spokesperson Col. Margareth Padilla also asserted that with the neutralization of the three top communist insurgents in Panay, the region was set to be declared insurgency-free by September.
