A SUSPECTED high-ranking official of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) who is facing a rebellion charge before the Danao City Regional Trial Court was arrested yesterday.
Ricardo Bellamia, also known as Ka Yuri and Ka David, was arrested by police and soldiers at 2 p.m. in his house in Casay, Dalaguete, Cebu.
He is now locked up at the Guadalupe Police Station in Cebu City.
Senior Supt. Augusto Marquez Jr., chief of the Regional Intelligence Division of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, said Bellamia was arrested based on the alias warrant RTC Judge Sylvia Aguirre Paderanga issued on Nov. 12, 2004.
Marquez said that Bellamia led the group that killed at least four soldiers from the 78th Infantry Battalion in Dalid, Tabuelan town and in Sumon and Kalanggaman in Tuburan, and Baliang, Danao City.
But the judge merged the murder charges into one case of rebellion filed against Bellamia, one Pedro Lumantas and several others.
Authorities have identified some towns in mid-north Cebu as areas with “high insurgency.”
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Bellamia denied that he is an NPA rebel in an interview at his detention cell yesterday. He said he does not even know Lumantas.
Bellamia said he has been staying in Barangay Casay and he found it surprising that he was not arrested when the warrant was issued in 2004 yet.
He was visible in the community and even campaigned for the candidacy of his brother Joseph, who won as the number one barangay councilor in Casay last Monday.
His wife Editha noted that Belamia was arrested a few days after the barangay and youth elections, during the observance of All Souls’ Day and with a warrant that was issued long ago.
But Marquez said Bellamia is a top rebel leader.
“How can he deny that he is not a rebel when he became the secretary of the NPA’s Front Committee 2, Regional Urban Party Committee and Regional White Area Committee? This guy is actually one of the top leaders of the CPA-NPA in Central Visayas,” he said.
Bellamia admitted that he worked with the National Federation of Labor Unions, Kilusang Mayo Uno and the National Federation of Labor, but that his job was limited to organizing labor unions.
An asset reported seeing Bellamia in Dalaguete.
Bellamia did not resist arrest when elements of the PRO 7 intelligence division and the Central Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines arrived, Marquez said. (EOB)
