DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 1, 2008) – Dozens of communist insurgents seized three police officers after raiding Tuesday a small village in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said the policemen were seized at around 8 a.m. in the village of Ongoyon in Mount Diwata in Compostela Valley province.
The police officers – Rogelio Etrata, Jerry Realino and Hector Colaste – were being held by the New People’s Army soldiers who are fighting for a separate Maoist state in the Philippines.
Government soldiers and police forces have launched a search for the three victims, but their fate remains unknown. “There is an ongoing pursuit operation,” Captain Cristina Manuel, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Officials said the three officers were assigned to guard the village where several gold mining firms are operating. Insurgents had in the past launch attacks on mining companies in the province.
In July, insurgents raided a field office of the Philco Mining Corporation in the village of Camanlangan in New Bataan town also in Compostela Valley.
Two government soldiers – Napoleon Gerasmio and Huberto Corbita - were also seized and freed 12 days later by insurgents in May in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town.
Late last year, the NPA also seized an army soldier Sgt. Raul Reyes in Montevista town in Compostela Valley and freed him three weeks later on humanitarian grounds after his family appealed to rebels to spare his life.
The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, which broke off peace talks with the Arroyo government in 2004 after accusing Manila of reneging on a deal that would have freed hundreds of political detainees in the country. (With a report from Romy Bwaga)
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