NPA ‘chief executioner’ in ST dead in PNP-Army operation
Two other members of 'RSOG' also killed
PHILIPPINE government forces, acting on reliable information, cornered and killed the head of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Southern Tagalog and two of his henchmen after a brief firefight inside a subdivision in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna last May 21, 2021.
P/BGen. Felipe Natividad, newly-installed commander of the elite, ‘Special Action Force,’ Philippine National Police (SAF-PNP), in an initial report to Chief PNP, P/Gen. Guillermo Tolentino Eleazar, identified the slain suspect as ‘Rommel Rizza,’ aka, Bernie/Jomar, who is also the subject of two ‘warrants of arrest’ (WOA) for murder and kidnapping issued by Branch 64 of the Regional Trial Court in Mauban, Quezon.
Also slain along with Rizza were one alias ‘Blue/Billy’ RSOG supply officer and, alias ‘Dean,’ RSOG intelligence officer.
P/Major Ford Sudaypan, head of the SAF’s Rapid Deployment Battalion (RDP), in a separate initial report to Natividad, said the elements from the SAF’s 83RD company under P/Captain Rudy Peang, along with elements from the 202ND ‘Unifier Brigade, 2ND Infantry ‘Jungle Fighter’ Division, Philippine Army, Army Intelligence Regiment (AIR), Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) and the local police, intended to serve the warrants of arrest to Rizza after locating him at the ‘Bluesky and Greenhouse Transient,’ Buena Rosa Subdivision, Brgy. Macabling, Sta Rosa, Laguna, but they were met by gunfire from one of the suspects, hitting one member of the raiding team. Fortunately, the intended victim was protected by a bullet-proof vest.
Forced to fire back, Sudaypan said the firefight lasted for only two minutes after which the raiding team barged inside the house and found all the suspects dead.
Operatives said they also recovered two .45 caliber pistols, one M16 assault rifle, several electronic devices and “subversive documents.”
Natividad also informed Eleazar that the suspects have been tasked by the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (STRPC) to “carry out assassination of NTF ELCAC talking heads,” referring to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
The report of RSOG intending to execute top task force officials was subsequently confirmed by national security adviser and former Armed Forces chief of staff, Hermogenes Esperon.
NPA’s “most elite unit”
The NPA’s ‘Special Operations Group’ (SOG) is considered the ‘most elite unit’ of the communists that reports directly to the CPP’s National Military Commission headed by whoever is the CPP chairman.
Its members are drawn from the “cream” of all CPP-NPA units all over the country.
Among its most notable ‘accomplishments’ are the assassination of US Army intelligence officer, Col. James Rowe in April 1989 in Quezon City.
At the time, Rowe is serving as an ‘adviser’ at JUSMAG (Joint US-PH Military Advisory Group) and is considered as a ‘war hero’ in the United States after successfully escaping his captors in 1968, during the American war of aggression in Vietnam.
Around 1987, the SOG also successfully managed to smuggle two container vans of AK-47 that passed thru customs inspection.
Much earlier, in 1984, the SOG assassinated P/BGen. Tomas Karingal, then head of the Northern Police District (now the Quezon City Police District).
Other victims include former Cagayan governor, Rodolfo Aguinaldo who was killed along with his bodyguard in Tuguegarao City in 2001 and, Romulo Kintanar, former ‘supremo’ of the NPA, who was killed in 2003.
The SOG also took responsibility during the series of rocket propelled grenade attacks targeting oil companies in Metro Manila during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
RSOG-ST, for its part, was responsible for the killing in 2001 of Quezon first district representative, Marcial Punzalan and Tanauan, Batangas mayor, Cesar Platon; the assassination in 2007 of Sta. Rosa City councilor, Raul Aala, the same year they also killed Cabuyao chief of police, Supt. Bernie Banalo.
Parlade thanks public for ‘reporting’ NPA presence
Southern Luzon (Solcom) area commander, Lt. General Antonio ‘Jun’ Parlade, maintained the death of Rizza would have a “severe impact” on the continued effectivity of the NPA in the region.
Aside from heading the RSOG, Parlade told Pinoy Exposé that Rizza was also the concurrent head of the STRPC’s ‘main regional guerilla unit’ (MGRU), responsible for all NPA tactical operations in the entire region.
Rizza replaced Dionisio Almonte, aka, ‘Jojo/Oman’ in the role after the latter’s capture in Pagsanjan, Laguna, in January 2014.
The official added the slain suspects are also linked to 5 other members of the RSOG who were killed in Baras, Rizal, during a firefight last December 17, 2020.
At the time, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary, Eduardo M. Año, said the 5 suspects are already planning to set up ‘safehouses’ near Metro Manila in order to carry out the instruction of CPP founder, Jose Maria Sison, for the NPA to redeploy its ‘Special Partisan Armed Units’ (SPARU) in urban areas to carry out the assassination of top government and military officials, especially those connected to the NTF-ELCAC.
Among the RSOG’s targets is the DILG chief himself.
“This latest move of Joma Sison is a desperate move driven by the fact that they are losing their ground.
“Higit sa lahat, ito ay excuse lamang para lalo silang makapanggulo in their pathetic attempt to overthrow one of the most popular governments in the world,” Año said at the time.
Parlade also thanked the public for continuously informing the military and the police on the presence of NPA operatives in their localities, as he credited the information provided to them that enabled them to pinpoint the exact whereabouts of Rizza and his accomplices.
