Government forces arrested a fugitive who is an alleged communist rebel, and apprehended a Filipino-American woman allegedly linked to armed insurgents during a joint operation in Cabuyao City, Laguna on Thursday (July 30).
The military, together with the Philippine National Police, and the Bureau of Immigration, served a warrant of arrest against Binay Serrano, also known by the alias ‘Samay’.
Serrano is the alleged medical and logistics officer of the NPA’s Southern Regional Military Area 4D, is facing a murder charge under Criminal Case No. R25-12586, said Col. Michael T. Aquino, public information officer of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (2ID).
According to the military, Serrano had been operating in Mindoro Island. No further details about the murder case were disclosed.
During the same operation, authorities also apprehended Cristina Pasion, an American citizen, whom security officials identified as having alleged links to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New Peoples Army. She was found with Serrano when the arrest warrant was served in Barangay San Isidro.
The military report identified Pasion as a member of Migrante International and alleged that she had been with fellow Filipino-American Chantal Anicoche and NPA members in Mindoro as early as December 2025.
The Army also claimed that Pasion was among those who wrote entries in a notebook recovered from the site of an armed encounter in Occidental Mindoro in January.
According to the military, the notebook contained notes detailing the group’s activities, internal discussions and experiences while staying with the armed movement.
Anicoche later returned to the United States on Jan. 30 after reuniting with her family.
The military said Pasion was scheduled to leave for the United States on March 14 but failed to depart as planned. It further alleged that she remained with communist rebels following armed encounters in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, on March 24 and 29, 2026.
Following her apprehension, Pasion was turned over to the Bureau of Immigration for appropriate action over her alleged immigration violations
Major General Ramon Zagala, 2ID commander, said, ‘This development shows how elaborate the CPP-NPA-NDF’s international solidarity work has become. Through front organizations, personal networks, and deceptive narratives, they attempt to reach young people even beyond the Philippines and draw them into a violent and futile cause.’