NSC says ‘acting chairman’ of CPP arrested in Quezon City

October 25, 2024 | 5:32pm

MANILA, Philippines — The “acting chairman” of the Communist Party of the Philippines was arrested in Quezon City on Thursday, October 24, marking what security officials call a “major step” in the government’s anti-insurgency campaign.

In a statement on Friday, October 25, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said Wigberto “Baylon” Villarico was apprehended during a joint operation by the military and regional police, including members of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. 

The alleged CPP leader was arrested on kidnapping with murder charges based on an arrest warrant issued by a Quezon regional trial court, the military said in a statement.  

According to the National Security Council, Villarico took over the CPP’s leadership following the death of Benito Tiamzon in a military encounter in Samar in August 2022.

His arrest is a “significant victory in neutralizing the CPP’s leadership structure,” Año said.

Año described Villarico as “the last Communist leader at large capable of commanding both the party and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.”

“Villarico’s capture closes the chapter on a terrorist fugitive responsible for numerous atrocities against the people,” he added.

Philstar.com has reached out to the CPP’s information bureau and will update this story with their response. 

In 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed the government was engaged in preliminary talks with the communist movement through back-channel negotiations in Oslo, Norway. This was facilitated by the Norwegian government, which has served as a third-party facilitator for peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the CPP-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front since 2001.

Both parties signed a joint statement in Oslo in November 2023 agreeing to a “principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict.” The statement indicated that both sides would work toward establishing guidelines for moving forward with formal peace negotiations. The Philippine government, however, had also ruled out a ceasefire.

This marked a shift from the approach of the previous Duterte administration, which had terminated peace talks in 2017 and declared the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization.

The government aims to end its decades-long campaign against the communist insurgency by the end of 2024 to shift its focus from internal to external defense.

Over five decades of hostilities between the government and the NPA — the longest-running active rebellion in Asia — have resulted in an estimated 40,000 deaths, including civilians. 

In the past, the CPP has expressed willingness to resume peace negotiations with the government as long as it addresses the root conflict of armed conflict through economic reforms. This includes a long-sought agreement that will guarantee agrarian reform and rural development, national industrialization and free land distribution to farmers.