The CPP paid tribute to Malaya, while grieving for their loss, but saluted "her heroism to persevere in the difficult path of revolution that she trudged throughout her life."
While the military announced that Arbitrario was killed in an encounter with troops, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) claimed Arbitrario was earlier captured, tortured then shot dead.
While authorities hailed the arrest of Casilao and labeled him as a "communist terrorist," his lawyers and family decry this tagging.
The alleged leader of a paramilitary group in Surigao del Sur tagged in the 2015 Lianga massacre of a Lumad school administrator and two community leaders was among those killed in an ambush staged by the New People’s Army on October 4.
Army spokesperson Capt. Rhyan Batchar said the government's anti-insurgency campaign against the New People's Army remains unabated despite the ongoing Marawi seige.