Pursue Peace Talks With Reds, Lawyers' Group Urges Manila

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 17, 2008) - The local chapter of the Union of Peoples' Lawyers in Mindanao called on the Arroyo government to resume peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and to issue immediate suspension of military operations (SOMO) to pave way for the safe release of an army official and a police officer being held captive by the New People's Army rebels.

The NPA is holding First Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo since November 7 after rebel forces attacked his unit and killed two soldiers and a government militia in a fierce firefight in Casoon village in the town of Monkayo in Compostela Valley province.

Aside from Cammayo, the rebels also captured Police Officer 3 Eduardo Tumol, a member of the 1105th Provincial Mobile Group, who was arrested on November 5 by the NPA at a checkpoint in the village of Baogo in Davao Oriental's Caraga town.

The UPLM said the continuing militarist approach of the Arroyo government only hinders the imminent release of the two prisoners of war and reinforces the escalating human rights violations in the Lumad and peasant communities in the southern region.

The group also cited previous statements made by Presidential Secretary Jesus Dureza that the Arroyo government would leave the matter to the military.

"With such, the GRP effectively abandoned the headways and breakthroughs of the peace talks in general. We refer to the previous agreements such as The Hague Joint Agreement, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHIHL)," said UPLM Davao City Chairperson Atty. Eduardo Estores.

"A rational government would hear the plea of the POWs' family. But the Arroyo government seems to play deaf and mute to such appeal. The government must do all it can to uphold at all times the security of the civilian populace and the POWs as guaranteed by the international humanitarian laws," Estores said.

"The GRP has the obligation of ensuring the immediate and safe release of the POWs and the respect of the human rights and the international humanitarian laws," Estores added.