NPA commander killed in San Mariano Isabela clash

By Leander Domingo

GAMU, Isabela -- The Army’s 5th Infantry Division (5th ID) here has confirmed the death of a Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) commander in an encounter in San Mariano Sur village in San Guillermo town, Isabela.
    Maj. Gen. Laurence Mina, 5th ID commander, identified the fatality based on information from former NPA rebels and documents as Rosalio Canubas alias Yuni, commander of the Regional Operations Command (ROC) and the Regional Sentro De Gravidad, Komiteng Rehiyon-Cagayan Valley (KR-CV) of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
    Mina said Canubas was killed during an encounter between troops of the 86th Infantry Battalion and the rebel group in Isabela on March 15.
    Canubas, a native of Calinan in Davao City was a cadre known as alias Dondie from the Regional Headquarters, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC) before he was directed by the Central Committee of the CPP-NPA to transfer to Region 2 to lead the ROC and establish the Komiteng Larangang Guerilla Quirino-Nueva Vizcaya of the KR-CV.
    According to Mina, reports revealed that Canubas led the burning of the millions of peso-worth heavy equipment and high-end utility vehicles of a mining firm at Barangay Dimaluadi in Dinapigue town, Isabela on October 28, 2015.
    Canubas reportedly led the hundred-armed CPP-NPA members that attacked the Maddela Police Station in Quirino province on the night of April 29, 2017 where they killed a policeman and seized police firearms and uniforms.
    During the encounter in San Guillermo town, Canubas was fatally hit and was brought by his comrades to Barangay Dingading in the said town in an attempt to hide him from the pursuing Army troops.
    Mina said the Army was able to locate the place where the NPA buried Canubas through information shared by the locals.