Philippines Communist leader arrested for brother's murder

Manila: A senior communist leader, accused of killing his brother in the late 1990s over differences on how ethnic groups should pursue autonomy in northern Luzon in the late 80s, was arrested along with his wife in the northern Philippines on Monday, police said.

Jovencio Balweg, 58, the regional leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military arm, the New People's Army (NPA), and his wife Carmen were arrested during a joint police and intelligence operation in Baguio City, a mountain resort in northern Luzon on Monday afternoon, police chief Orlando Pestano said in a radio interview.

Balweg had a 1-million-peso bounty (Dh76,908) on his head. He will be tried for the killing of his brother, former Roman Catholic priest Conrado Balweg, who broke away from the CPP-NPA and worked to bring about a ceasefire agreement between the government and the Cordillera People's Liberation Army (CPLA) in 1987, said Pestano.

His wife is a top communist provincial commander. Both of them will also be tried for other political killings in the north, Pestano said, adding the arrest of the communist couple was a big blow to the CPP-NPA in northern Luzon.