NPA leader shot by companion now under military, police protection

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September 26, 2026 | 4:48pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — An official of the defunct New People’s Army shot and wounded by a companion after she sent surrender feelers to local executives, the military and police, is now in a hospital, protected by soldiers and policemen.

Officials of the 6th ID and its component unit, the 603rd Infantry Brigade, the Police Regional Office 12 and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., separately told reporters on Saturday, September 26, that they shall cooperate in facilitating the return to mainstream society of Arnida Cuaton Manguinguilid.

She had served as a political instructor in the NPA’s now virtually inactive Regional Operations Command–Far South Mindanao Region, whose remaining officials are wanted for high-profile criminal cases pending in different courts in Regions 10, 11 and 12.

One of Manguinguilid's companions attempted to kill her with a pistol last week when they learned she had separately contacted members of the multi-sector South Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council, whose presiding chairperson is Tamayo, officials of the 603^rd Infantry Brigade, Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, who is acting commander of the 6th ID and asked them to usher her back to their community in one of the towns in Central Mindanao.

Despite her gunshot wound, she managed to run away and relocate to a safe area with the help of Tamayo's office, the 603rd Infantry Brigade and the 6th ID, whose officials cooperated in having her confined to one of the hospitals in South Cotabato, one of the four provinces in Region 12, which also has four component cities.

Provincial governors and mayors in the region, units of the 6th ID and the 10th Infantry Division, which is presently under Major Gen. Alvin Luzon, had worked out the surrender in batches in the past five years of 609 NPAs from across Region 12’s Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.

Manguinguilid had told reporters that she decided to avail of the government’s reconciliation program for communist insurgents after she had confirmed that her former companions who had availed of it with the help of Tamayo, Cotabato Gov Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza and officials of the 6th and 10th IDs had been reunited with their families, now thriving as farmers, livestock raisers, construction workers, vendors and laborers in public markets and as driver of passenger vehicles.