The overall chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army in Northern Luzon and two others were killed in a gunfight with government troops in Baguio City early morning of March 13.
Personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police conducted a joint operation at MRR Queen of Peace resulting in the death of Julius Soriano Giron, who was known as chair of the CPP in Northern Luzon and a member of the CPP-NPA’s executive committee.
Giron, also known as “Tatay/Lakay,” was identified as the head of the CPP’s National Military Commission. He was also the overall chair of the CPP-NPA, the position vacated by Benito Tiamzon when he was arrested in 2014.
Giron had warrants of arrest for rebellion, murder, arson, and frustrated murder.
Also killed was Lourdes Tan Torres or Ma. Lourdes Dineros Tangco alias “Tita,” also a CPP-NPA executive committee member, who worked in the movement’s National Health Bureau, and an unidentified male serving as Giron’s security.
Authorities said they acted on information provided by a member “within the terrorist organization,” about the presence of three individuals in Baguio.
Government troops were serving the search warrant on Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition and multiple warrants of arrest when the members of the rebel group resisted arrest, resulting in a firefight.
Government troops recovered one M16, two cal .45, various explosives, and other war material from the killed CPP-NPA members.
The Duterte government has launched an all-out offensive against the CPP-NPA and its allied organizations resulting in the arrest or killing of ranking rebel leaders and members since 2016.
The CPP-NPA has been waging a Maoist-inspired rebellion the past 51 years, the longest armed rebellion in Asia. – Ofelia C. Empian
April 23, 2024
