DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 08, 2007) – Philippine troops mounted fresh operations to rescue a government soldier and two others kidnapped by communist insurgents in Mindanao island, an army spokesperson said on Monday.
New People’s Army gunmen seized the soldier, Sgt. Raul Reyes, including a government militia and a village chieftain after raiding a military post Sunday in Compostela Valley’s Montevista town.
“Government soldiers are pursuing the insurgents who are holding the trio hostage,” 1st Lt. Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
She said about 30 NPA insurgents, clad in military uniform, first seized village chieftain Glorieto Mahumas from his house and ordered him to summon the soldier and militias in the village of Canikid in the guise of an important meeting with other government troops in the area.
The gunmen then held the soldier and his companion, Rudy Villaflor, a member of the paramilitary group called CAFGU, soon as they arrived in the house and used them as shield to raid the army post manned by other militias in the village.
“Upon their arrival to the house, they were shocked when troops pointed the rifles at them and saw the village chieftain already taken hostage. The three were then handcuff and brought near the detachment where one NPA member used a megaphone and instructed the remaining CAFGU’s in the detachment to surrender their firearms or they will kill the hostages.”
“The CAFGU members laid down their arms in consideration of the fate of Mahumas and their detachment commander Sgt. Reyes,” the army spokesperson said, adding, the raiders fled onboard two trucks tagging along with them the three men.
Maj. Gen. Ernesto Boac, the commander of the 10th Infantry Division, said the NPA violated the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHIL).
“Deceit has always been the strategy of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. They are fully aware that the civilians trusted and are confident on our soldiers, thus, they always use the military uniform and disguise as military troops to gain their advantage and victimize the civilians.”
“This is a clear violation on the provision as stipulated under CARHIL”, Boac said.
He also appealed to civilians to stay vigilant and inform authorities about NPA atrocities.
The Philippine government opened peace talks with the rebels, but the negotiations collapsed in 2004 after the United States listed the CPP and the NPA and its political arm, the National Democratic Front, as foreign terrorist organization on Manila’s prodding. The NPA is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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