CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Former Army colonel Alexander Noble, leader of the 1990 pocket rebellion in Northern Mindanao against the administration of then-president Corazon Aquino, passed away in Cagayan de Oro on Thursday dawn, December 5, his family and friends said.
Noble, a member of the Philippine Military Class (PMA) 1969, died in his residence in Alwana Village in Barangay Cugman. He was 76.
“At 3:10 am, a time when he often found solace in meditation, he made his final accent – rising to the next plane to be with his Master. It is fitting that he left us in the stillness of early morning, a time when the world is quiet and full of possibility, much like the man he was,” Noble’s daughter Mary Clarisse Khezia Hernandez said in a Facebook post.
Noble, a member of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), led hundreds of soldiers and Higaonon paramilitary militias in seizing the 402nd Infantry Brigade in Bangcasi, Butuan City, and the 4th Infantry Division headquarters in Cagayan de Oro City on October 4, 1990.
The then-renegade colonel took control of the two military camps without firing a shot and proclaimed the independence of the “Federal Republic of Mindanao.”
Two days later, Noble surrendered to then-senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. after negotiations brokered by the late Cagayan de Oro mayor Vicente Emano, then Misamis Oriental governor.
Following his surrender, Noble was taken into custody and brought to Manila to stand trial before a military court. He later applied for amnesty during the Ramos administration.
Noble eventually served as a member of the board of directors of the state-run Phividec Industrial Estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. – Rappler.com