ILOILO CITY, May 3 -- A wanted high-ranking official and a member of the New People's Army (NPA) were killed in two successive encounters with the Philippine Army's 61st Infantry Battalion (61IB) in Leon, Iloilo on Thursday.

Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines, chief of the 3rd Division Public Affairs Office, identified the fatalities as Nahum Camariosa alias Rodel/Bebong, squad leader of the dismantled Southern Panay Front (SPF), Komiteng Rehiyon-Panay, and alias JunJun/Cedrick, a member of Regional Sentro de Gravidad (RSDG) of the NPA in the region.

"Camariosa is the only remaining focal person of the dismantled SPF. With his death, they will have no direction because of the leadership vacuum," Javines said in an interview on Friday.

Camariosa ha...