2 senior NPA officials fall in Zambo del Norte

Two senior officials of the New People’s Army (NPA) wanted for criminal charges were arrested by authorities in Zamboanga del Norte in southern Philippines, the military said on Wednesday. Police and military elements arrested top NPA officials Maria Luisa Purcray and Allen Solis on Tuesday at a checkpoint along Dicayo village in Katipunan town, Zamboanga del Norte, Lt. Steffani Cacho, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Mindanao Command, said. Purcray is the current leader of the communist party’s North Central Mindanao Party Committee, while Solis is a senior medical staff of the Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee, Cacho said. Purcray has long been wanted for murder, homicide and robbery, and has a P2.9-million bounty for her capture, the regional military spokesperson said. A hand grenade and several “subversive" documents were recovered from the rebels upon their arrest, Cacho said. The Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA have yet to issue statements on their officials’ arrest. The Arroyo administration has repeatedly vowed in the past to crush the communist insurgency in the country before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term ends in June 2010. - Andreo Calonzo, GMANews.TV