Military and police operatives arrested on Saturday morning, April 15, a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) tagged by the Philippine National Police as the most wanted NPA member in Negros.

A media release from the Philippine Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion (62IB) identified the suspect as 49-year-old Jerry Montefalcon (alias Ka Bulhot), married, and a member of the NPA’s Central Negros 1.

He was arrested by 62IB troops and Canlaon City police at Barangay Budlasan’s Sitio Anatuling in Negros Oriental’s Canlaon City under a search warrant.

Montefalcon is the subject of several warrants issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 64 in the province’s Guihulngan City, for murder and illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives, among others.

No bail was recommended.

He was also involved in various harassments and liquidations of CAFGU Active Auxiliary and civilians in the Negros Occidental towns of Moises Padilla and La Castellana, and in the Negros Oriental cities of Guihulngan and Canlaon.

Lt. Colonel William Pesase, 62IB commanding officer, told the Philippine News Agency that the arrest of Montefalcon indicates the battalion’s relentless efforts to “hunt down the remaining NPA members who have killed innocent and unarmed civilians in central Negros.”

“We are reiterating our call for them to surrender now and live a normal life again with their families. Otherwise, they will either die in an encounter or languish in jail for the crimes they have committed,” Pesase said in an interview. (PNA)