An alleged New People's Army (NPA) leader, said to be one of its founding members of the group in Mindanao, was killed in a clash with government forces in Davao de Oro on Wednesday night.

Capt. Mark Anthony Tito, public affairs office chief of the 10th Infantry division said Menandro Villanueva alias Bok, was '' hit in several parts of his body resulting in his demise'' during the clash with the 1001st Infantry Brigade at the vicinity of Barangay Libudon, Mabini, Davao de Oro.

Tito said Villanueva was the longest-serving Secretary of Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC). He was the secretary of Komisyong Mindanao (KOMMID), commanding officer of the NPA’s National Operations Command (NOC), and member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

"Villanueva is one of the founding members of the NPA in Mindanao during the 1970s together with Edgar Jopson. During his student years in Ateneo de Manila, he was an activist under the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) and went underground when Martial Law was declared," he said.

"Alias Bok supervised the operations of the CPP/NPA in the whole of Mindanao and directly controlled the operations of the New People’s Army (NPA) as head of the National Operations Command of the NPA," he added.

Tito said Villanueva has several warrants of arrests to include multiple murder, double frustrated murder, arson, robbery with intimidation, rebellion, among others. Robina Asido/DMS