NPA rebels free 4 POWs in South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 15, 2010) – The New People’s Army rebels have freed Tuesday three soldiers and a government militia after almost a month in captivity, a spokesman for the Maoist group said.

The four - Army Corporals Marcial Bawagan, Ariel Asumo, Eduardo Alcala and Victor Pitogo - were taken prisoners in the town of Mawab in Compostela Valley on May 12.

Anvil Guinto, a spokesman for the rebel’s Crucifino Uballas command, said the release of the prisoners came after their families appealed to the NPA to free the four men who are being accused of violating human rights of civilians in the province.

“The release is in recognition of the appeals made by the families, religious groups and personalities, well-meaning individuals and progressive groups on their behalf,” he said. ”The NPA accords the released POWs the chance to conduct themselves in a manner respectful of the people's rights and the international laws of war. Their arrest and subsequent detention should also serve as a warning to officers and elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and their intelligence and paramilitary units.”

The Army’s 10th Infantry Division where the soldiers belonged confirmed the release of the four men in the village of Santa Teresa in Compostela Valley’s Maco town.

“Their (rebels) claim of humanitarian consideration in releasing the victims is far-fetched from the truth as they were the ones who put their victims in deep peril disregarding the circumstances when they feloniously and maliciously kidnapped the victims while attending a child’s birthday party,” said Army Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division.

“The victims’ release proves the undeniable culpability of the NPA and its puppet master the Communist Party of the Philippines in concocting crimes against innocent people. It also outlines the NPA’s sheer violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect to Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and pertinent laws of the land,” Garcia said.

He said the freed soldiers were taken to hospital for routine examination and would undergo debriefing later.

Last week, the rebels warned troops to stay away from near their bases as not to endanger the lives of the prisoners after the military launched massive operations to rescue the hostages.

The rebels are fighting the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (With a report from Geo Solmerano)

NPA orders release of captured soldiers, militia in Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 10, 2010) – The New People’s Army ordered rebel forces on Thursday to free three government soldiers and a militiaman captured in the southern Philippines.

Communist rebels are holding Army Corporals Marcial Bawagan, Ariel Asumo, Eduardo Alcala and Victor Pitogo, a government militia. They were taken prisoners in the town of Mawab in Compostela Valley on May 12 and being investigated on charges of human rights violations and counter-revolutionary campaign in the province.

The release of the prisoners came after their families appealed to the NPA to free the four men who are being accused of violating human rights of civilians in the province.

Rigoberto Sanchez, a spokesman for the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command, said there is a probable cause to hold the prisoners longer, but the rebel group has considered the appeals made their families for the safe release of the soldiers and militiaman.

“However, in consideration of the humanitarian appeals for their release, the MAC-NPA has ordered the NPA custodial unit to release Prisoners of War Corporal Marcial B. Bawagan (SN#794130), Corporal Ariel P. Asumo (SN#803445), Corporal Eduardo Alcala (SN#806489) and Civilian Active Auxiliary (member) Victor Pitogo (SN#006279) subject to the actual military situation on the ground,” Sanchez said.

Government troops mounted fresh operations to rescue the hostages, but it was unknown whether the military would order a halt in the efforts to recover the four men.

The NPA earlier warned troops to stay away from near their stronghold as not to endanger the lives of the prisoners.

“This utmost concern is currently being considered by the NPA so as to ensure the safe and orderly undertaking of the release. Major General Carlos Holganza must come to his senses, and face the fact that 10th Infantry Division operations have failed and order a suspension of military operations in the areas of Pantukan, Mabini, Maco and Mawab,” Sanchez said, referring to the towns where military operations are going on.

He said: “As it is now, only the 10th Infantry Division's continuing, but failed military operation, stands in the way of the fulfillment of the NPA's humanitarian act that will effect the return of the prisoners of war to their families.”

The rebels are fighting the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Captured soldier killed during escape try, NPA rebels say

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 24, 2009) – Communist insurgents on Sunday admitted killing a government soldier they captured in Mindanao.

The New People’s Army said the soldier, Staff Sergeant Rolen Maglangit, was killed during a failed escape in the town of Monkayo in Compostela Valley province.

The military said the soldier, who was seized Friday, had been tortured and executed. His body was found on Saturday.

“Consistent with the Standard Operating Procedures pertaining to enemy combatants arrested or captured by NPA units, Sgt. Maglangit was to be subjected to an investigation for possible violations of human rights, other violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against the people particularly owing to the notorious record of the 36th Infantry Battalion versus the masses in the tri-boundaries of Agusan del Sur, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley provinces.”

“But after being informed of the investigation he needed to undergo and despite repeated warnings from his captors not to run in the course of their trek, Sgt. Maglangit showed clear signs of resistance and eventually tried to escape. He was able to run a distance, but was hit by a burst of gunfire from the pursuing NPA troops. His corpse was left behind so as to be easily discovered by residents for proper disposition,” said Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesman for the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command.

The NPA is fighting for a separate Maoist state in the Philippines.

His unit said Maglangit was seized by the NPA after he tried to aid villagers being harassed by rebels in the village of Pasian.

“The commotion reached the attention of Maglangit, who was in the area procuring supplies. Maglangit, on civilian attire and unarmed, rushed to the scene to verify the disturbance.”

“He was able to relay the report to his unit when he confirmed the presence of undetermined number of NPAs harassing the civilians. While leaving the area, another group of NPAs suddenly held Maglangit and eventually kidnapped him,” said Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, a spokeswoman for the 10th Infantry Division.

Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, commander of the army division, the soldier was brutally killed. His body bore torture marks and several gunshot wounds. “The brutal murder of Staff Sergeant Rolen Maglangit perpetuated by the NPA last May 22 is enough wake up call for the Mindanaoans to unite and a put to stop their killing spree.”

“They have switched to a mode wherein they are willing to violate human rights and put justice into their own hands,” Mapagu said.

“We believe that he was murdered immediately after his kidnapping. I am sure that Sergeant Maglangit was not even sentenced by their kangaroo court. He was a brave soldier. He was going around his area of work, checking on the reported harassment of civilians by the NPA, when he was kidnapped,” he added.

But the NPA said the soldier was seized at a rebel checkpoint and his .45-caliber pistol was also confiscated by rebels.

“This incident should serve as a strong warning to captured enemy personnel as well as units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police neutralized during raid-disarming tactical offensives of the NPA that resistance would prove fatal.”

“A number of similar incidents in the past and even recently have shown that enemy personnel are left unharmed when they offer no armed resistance, in the case of attacks on AFP detachments and PNP stations; and do not escape, in the case of arrest operations. The MAC-SMROC hopes that enemy combatants who would be caught in these situations in the future would not follow what Sgt. Maglangit did,” Sanchez said.

The abduction of Maglangit came barely two weeks after rebels freed a captured government soldier – Private First Class Ronnie Trinidad - in Compostela Valley. The NPA said it freed the soldier on humanitarian grounds.

Rebels captured Trinidad, who belongs to the 66th Infantry Battalion, on April 28 at a checkpoint in the village of Pagsabangan in New Bataan town. Trinidad was seized while on his way to barracks with another soldier, Corporal Japhet Lavid, who had escaped from rebels.

Last week, communist rebels also executed a former army soldier, Dante Villa, they seized May 9 in Davao del Sur province, also in Mindanao. His body was recovered in the village of Dongan Pekong in Matanao town.

Early this month, NPA rebels admitted killing four civilians - Ruben Bitang, Macky Estremos, Marcelino Payot and Bobong Gambuta - they accused of aiding the military in its anti-insurgency campaign.

The rebels also tagged the four men as behind the brutal murder of Rebelyn Bitang, a daughter of a senior NPA leader Leoncio Pitao.

Pitao’s daughter was abducted in Davao City on March 4. Her naked body was found the next day floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her family said the woman’s body bore torture marks and was believed raped.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines. Peace talks between Manila and the CPP-NPA collapsed in 2004 after both sides failed to sign an agreement to end more than four decades of bloody fighting. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA rebels execute captured army soldier in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 23, 2009) – Communist rebels fighting for a separate Maoist state in the Philippines have executed a government soldier they captured in the restive region of Mindanao, officials said.

Officials said the body of Staff Sergeant Rolen Maglangit, of the 36th Infantry Battalion, was recovered at around 6.30 p.m. on Saturday, a day after he was seized by New People’s Army rebels in Compostela Valley province.

Two policemen who were also reported taken by the rebels in the town of Monkayo town had been accounted for, said Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, a spokeswoman for the 10th Infantry Division.

“The abducted soldier is dead,” she told the Mindanao Examiner.

Maglangit was seized by the NPA after he tried to aid villagers being harassed by rebels in the village of Pasian.

“The commotion reached the attention of Maglangit, who was in the area procuring supplies. Maglangit, on civilian attire and unarmed, rushed to the scene to verify the disturbance.”

“He was able to relay the report to his unit when he confirmed the presence of undetermined number of NPAs harassing the civilians. While leaving the area, another group of NPAs suddenly held Maglangit and eventually kidnapped him,” the army spokeswoman said.

Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, commander of the army division, the soldier was brutally killed. His body bore torture marks and several gunshot wounds.

“The brutal murder of Staff Sergeant Rolen Maglangit perpetuated by the NPA last May 22 is enough wake up call for the Mindanaoans to unite and a put to stop their killing spree.”

“They have switched to a mode wherein they are willing to violate human rights and put justice into their own hands,” Mapagu said in a statement.

“We believe that he was murdered immediately after his kidnapping. I am sure that Sergeant Maglangit was not even sentenced by their kangaroo court. He was a brave soldier. He was going around his area of work, checking on the reported harassment of civilians by the NPA, when he was kidnapped,” Mapagu said.

The NPA said the soldier was killed during his attempted escape.

“Consistent with the Standard Operating Procedures pertaining to enemy combatants arrested or captured by NPA units, Sgt. Maglangit was to be subjected to an investigation for possible violations of human rights, other violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against the people particularly owing to the notorious record of the 36th Infantry Battalion versus the masses in the tri-boundaries of Agusan del Sur, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley provinces.”

“But after being informed of the investigation he needed to undergo and despite repeated warnings from his captors not to run in the course of their trek, Sgt. Maglangit showed clear signs of resistance and eventually tried to escape. He was able to run a distance, but was hit by a burst of gunfire from the pursuing NPA troops. His corpse was left behind so as to be easily discovered by residents for proper disposition,” said Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman.

The abduction of Maglangit came barely two weeks after rebels freed a captured government soldier – Private First Class Ronnie Trinidad - in Compostela Valley. The NPA said it freed the soldier on humanitarian grounds.

Rebels captured Trinidad, who belongs to the 66th Infantry Battalion, on April 28 at a checkpoint in the village of Pagsabangan in New Bataan town. Trinidad was seized while on his way to barracks with another soldier, Corporal Japhet Lavid, who had escaped from rebels.

Last week, communist rebels also executed a former army soldier, Dante Villa, they seized May 9 in Davao del Sur province, also in Mindanao. His body was recovered in the village of Dongan Pekong in Matanao town.

Early this month, NPA rebels admitted killing four civilians - Ruben Bitang, Macky Estremos, Marcelino Payot and Bobong Gambuta - they accused of aiding the military in its anti-insurgency campaign. The rebels also tagged the four men as behind the brutal murder of Rebelyn Bitang, a daughter of a senior NPA leader Leoncio Pitao.

Pitao’s daughter was abducted in Davao City on March 4. Her naked body was found the next day floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her family said the woman’s body bore torture marks and was believed raped.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a secessionist war in the country. Peace talks between Manila and the CPP-NPA collapsed in 2004 after both sides failed to sign an agreement to end more than four decades of bloody fighting. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA rebels seize 2 cops, soldier in southern Philippines; army commander wounded in clash

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 22, 2009) – An army commander was injured after his unit clashed Friday with communist rebels who seized two police officers and soldier in Compostela Valley province in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said Colonel Roberto Ancan, commander of 25th Infantry Battalion, was shot by New People’s Army rebels as his unit tried to rescue the police officers in Monkayo town.

“Colonel Ancan is wounded in the fighting and was rushed to the hospital. He was shot in the shoulder. He is okay. Pursuit operation is going on,” Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, a spokeswoman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

She said the rebels seized the police officers and soldier on a village called Pasian.

“There two police officers were abducted at a rebel checkpoint in Pasian and we are still awaiting more details about the abduction of our soldier, but he is now being held by the NPA,” Manuel said.
Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, the division commander, has ordered troops to pursue the rebels.

“The NPAs are certainly demoralized and defeated that is why they have to resort to kidnapping and eventually use their victims as shield and project the image of a Good Samaritan,” he said.

The news of abduction came barely two weeks after rebels freed a captured government soldier in Compostela Valley, where security forces are battling the NPA.

The NPA said it freed the soldier, Private First Class Ronnie Trinidad, on humanitarian grounds. Rebels captured Trinidad, who belongs to the 66th Infantry Battalion, on April 28 at a checkpoint in the village of Pagsabangan in New Bataan town.

Trinidad was seized while on his way to barracks with another soldier, Corporal Japhet Lavid, who had escaped from rebels.

The NPA said it released after the soldier’s family and other groups appealed for his liberty.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a secessionist war in the country. Peace talks between Manila and the CPP-NPA collapsed in 2004 after both sides failed to sign an agreement to end more than four decades of bloody fighting. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA rebels to free captured policeman in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 23, 2008) – Philippine communist rebels said they would free a policeman captured in Mindanao, but are still holding an army officer prisoner in the troubled region.

Rigoberto Sanchez, a spokesman for the New People’s Army rebels, said they would soon release Eduardo Tumol as an act of goodwill. He did not say when the actual release would be, but claimed Tumol’s freedom was based on humanitarian grounds and in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines on Dec. 26.

“The Merardo Arce Command-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command of the New People's Army has ordered the unilateral release of NPA prisoner of war PO3 Eduardo C. Tumol (Badge No. 078679).”

”POW Tumol's release is an act of goodwill in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines. It is also based on humanitarian grounds as well-meaning individuals, personalities and peace advocates clamor for a negotiated and unilateral release,” Sanchez said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

He said Tumol was accorded humane and lenient treatment befitting his status as prisoner of war in accordance with international war protocols, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and the NPA's Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points of Attention.

”The soonest time, the Merardo Arce Command-NPA shall make further announcements related to the actual release of POW Tumol,” Sanchez said.Tumol, a member of the 1105th Provincial Mobile Group, was arrested on November 5 by the NPA at a checkpoint in the village of Baogo in Davao Oriental's Caraga town. His commander, Chief Inspector Angel Sumagaysay, and another policeman were able to escape from the rebels.

The NPA is still 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.

The rebels also seized an M60 machine gun and two M16 and one M14 automatic rifles from Cammayo's unit during the fighting.

It was unknown when Cammayo would be freed, but Sanchez previously said that both prisoners were being investigated for possible human rights violations and other crimes related to the operations of the Special Forces and the Provincial Mobile Group in Mindanao.

Aris Francisco, spokesman of the NPA's Alejandro Lanaja Command, accused the 3rd Special Forces Battalion to which Cammayo's unit belongs, as responsible for the series of violations to human rights, protocols of war and international humanitarian law in Compostela Valley province.

He accused the Special Forces of masterminding the June bombing in Nabunturan town that wounded several innocent civilians. "The bombing was a desperate and fascist attack in response to the sparrow operations of the NPA which killed two of their soldiers at that time," he said.

The NPA also tagged Special Forces members as behind the brutal murder in June of a peasant leader Noli Llanos in Nabunturan's Mipangi village, where rebels killed three government soldiers; and also the killing of farmer Diego Encarnacion in the village of Linda in Nabunturan town in July. Both farmers were accused by the military as NPA supporters.

The military denied all accusations and branded them as propaganda.

The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting the government the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Peace talks between Manila and the CPP-NPA collapsed in 2004 after both sides failed to sign an agreement ending hostilities in the countryside. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA Rebels Write Open Letter To POWs Families

OPEN LETTER TO MRS. MARIEL CAMMAYO AND MRS. MA. LUISA TUMOL

(wives of POW 1st Lt. Vicente P. Cammayo of the Special Forces Battalion-AFP and POW P03 Eduardo Tumol of the Police Mobile Group-PNP)

7 December 2008

Dear Mrs. Cammayo and Mrs. Tumol,

Warm revolutionary greetings.

I understand the anguish that you are now going through. It has never been the practice of the New People's Army to deliberately cause suffering on civilians. To this, we commiserate with you.

The only comfort that I can give you is to reiterate the assurance that we are taking good care of your husbands. We have gone beyond what is required by the Geneva Conventions as lenient treatment for soldiers who surrender and are taken as Prisoners of War. Certainly, the hospitality that we can offer is very basic and unlike the comfort that your husbands have been used to. But they eat more than what we eat. They sleep more comfortably than we do. They have not been subjected to any kind of physical or psychological torture. Most of all, their safety, security and welfare are our primary concern.

Mrs. Cammayo -- we have tried to reinforce this assurance through the video clip we sent through the media to show you that your husband is healthy and unharmed. In your present condition, you are very vulnerable. It would not be good for you to be unduly stressed. Your husband is also very concerned for you. However, he also understands that your first priority right now is to take care of your unborn child.

As your husbands are declared prisoners of war, this will give you comfort that they are treated well, and their rights are protected as POWs under the international humanitarian law (IHL). Thus, I would like to assure you along with the revolutionary forces that there is no cause for alarm.

POW 1Lt. Vicente P. Cammayo, commander of the 11th Company of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion-AFP and POW PO3 Eduardo Cruzada Tumol of the police's 1105th Provincial Mobile Group are currently under investigation for possible violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that they may have committed in the course of implementing the US-Arroyo regime's counter-revolutionary Operation Plan Bantay Laya II.

As your husbands are ranking officers and men, they are directly responsible for orders that have resulted in hurting many innocent civilians in the areas where they have been deployed. The Revolutionary Court conducts investigations as expeditiously as possible. At the same time, we take our investigations seriously and thorough. The results of these investigations will be made public. Upon the capture of your husbands, the legal and judicial process of the revolutionary government has commenced. A couple of weeks will not be enough time to accomplish this, more so under condition of fierce military operations.

Many military officials, especially those who have never experienced and can only speak about the suffering that your husbands have undergone in the battlefield, will try to demean this process. "Kangaroo court" is what they derisively call our Revolutionary Court. But years and years of building the People's Democratic Government and revolutionary justice served and implemented, the people can only turn to the Revolutionary Government as their only true source of justice.

The viciously fascist Arroyo regime that has prized Gen. Jovito Palparan and Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr have victimized millions of peasants, workers, journalists, lawyers, students, human rights activists and church people and NDFP consultants. Even your husbands as well as the AFP foot soldiers have been victims of the regime's callousness, warmongering and injustice.
We do not have a kangaroo court. A kangaroo court is one where justice can be bought to the advantage of the rich while the poor languish in prisons for crimes that they have not committed. I think you are familiar with such courts.

At this point, I ask that you try to recognize the other lies that have been told to you for what they are -- lies. Among the many others, I would like to make a few corrections:
First, the NPA had never denied, right from the start, the captivity of your husband. The military cannot concoct with such a statement purportedly from us because we never said anything like that. We were delayed in making any kind of announcement because foremost in the priorities of the NPA custodial forces was your husbands' security and safety amid the incessant fierce military operations in the countryside.

Secondly, the so-called AFP "rescue" missions that have been dispatched are not for the purpose of getting your husbands safely. The military merely wants to save face after the embarrassing back-to-back defeats that they have suffered in the hands of the people's army. It would not be surprising if they shoot your husbands themselves and put the blame on us. I realize that these may be difficult for you to believe. I'm sure many of your husbands' colleagues have approached you and derided the NPA.

I ask you now to let our records speak for us. The New People's Army has never made it a practice to be deceitful. Even with our mistakes, we have been upfront and forthright, sometimes at great cost to us. Through hard work, painstaking mass work and sincerity, we have gained the trust of the masses. The people's trust is the source of our increasing strength.
Your husbands have been as brave and accepting of their situation as they possibly can, even though they are also very eager to go home. It is my hope that you, being wives of soldiers, can, likewise, be as brave.

For the people,

(SGD) RUBI DEL MUNDO
Spokesperson

National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Southern Mindanao

Philippine Rebels Free 2 Captured Marine

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 13, 2008) – Muslim rebels freed before dawn Friday two marine intelligence they seized in the southern Philippine island of Basilan after a series of government negotiations.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels captured the two soldiers who were trying to negotiate for the surrender of a senior MILF leader in Basilan, where security forces are fighting Abu Sayyaf militants.

The rebels then demanded the military to free an Abu Sayyaf militant, Sali Alih, arrested last week by policemen and soldiers in Basilan’s Lamitan City. Alih was implicated in the beheading of 14 marines in fierce clashes last year in Al-Barka town, also in Basilan.

The soldiers were trying to get rebel Hadji Mas'ud alias Commander Long to surrender to them when gunmen seized them in Tipo-Tipo town.

The military’s Western Mindanao Command said the two soldiers - Corporals Jesse Duatin and Bernard Alcabasa (not Bernard ALcanta as reported by the MILF) – were released without any condition.

“The two soldiers are freed after a successful negotiation led by village leader Raisa Masud in Al-Barka town,” military spokesman Major Eugene Batara told the Mindanao Examiner.

Batara did not give details of the negotiations, but said the Abu Sayyaf prisoner will not be released. “We have laws to follow here,” he said.

He said the operations against the Abu Sayyaf will continue in Basilan island. “The operations against lawlessness will continue,” he said.

Alih belongs to the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama, blamed for the spate of attacks on military patrols in Basilan island.

Alih, a nephew of Mas' ud, was traveling on a motorcycle with another companion when police and military forces captured him. His companion was briefly held, but freed later by the police for lack of evidence to link him to the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small, but the most dreaded among local Muslim rebel groups in the southern Philippines. Filipino authorities linked the Abu Sayyaf also known as Al-Harakatul al-Islamiya, which means "bear of the sword" to the al-Qaeda terror network and the Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiya.

Another faction of the Abu Sayyaf is holding a kidnapped television reporter Ces Drilon and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and their guide Professor Octavio Dinampo, of the Mindanao State University.

One cameraman, Angelo Valderama, was freed late Thursday in Sulu province where militants seized them June 8 in the village of Kulasi in Maimbung town while pursuing an exclusive story about the Abu Sayyaf.

Drilon works for the television giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. while Dinampo teaches Political Science at the Mindanao State University.

Police have tagged Gafur Jumdail, Albader Parad and Umbra Jumdail, a notorious militant leader wanted both by Washington and Manila for terrorism and killings, as behind the kidnappings. (Mindanao Examiner)

Bihag Na Parak Ng NPA, Pinalaya!

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 6, 2008) – Pinalaya ng New People’s Army ang isang parak na kanilang itinuring na prisoner of war matapos na umapela diumano ang mga magulang at pamilya nito sa Davao Oriental province sa Mindanao.

Si PO1 Ruel Valmores, naka-destino sa bayan ng Boston, ay pinakawalan kamakalawa, dalawang araw matapos itong mabihag ng mga rebelde habang patungo sa isang court hearing.

Ang kasamahan nitong si Insp. Jonel Belenson, hepe ng pulisya sa naturang bayan, ay napatay naman ng magtangkang tumakas nuong Hunyo 3 sa isang NPA checkpoint sa Baranagay Kabasagan sa bayan ng Baganga.

Lubos naman ang pasasalamat ni Valmores sa mga rebelde sa pagpapalaya nito sa kanya.

Sinabi sa Mindanao Examiner ni Valmores na maganda ang pagtrato ng mga rebelde sa kanya at hindi siya sinaktan ng mga ito. Agad naman na isinasalang sa "debriefing" si Valmores upang mabatid kung ano ang naging karanasan nito sa kamay ng mga rebelde.

Bihag pa rin ng NPA ang isa pang sundalo na si Army M/Sgt. Jose Manero na dinukot nuong Mayo 11. Ang biktima ay kapatid ni ex-convict Norbero Manero, na dating lider ng mga Ilaga na siyang lumaban noon sa NPA sa Mindanao.

Sinampahan na ng kaso ng mga awtoridad ang NPA, partikular si Leonardo Pitao alias Commander Parago, na itinuturong nasa likod ng pagdukot kay Manero sa isang banana plantation sa Calinan district sa Davao City.

Si Norberto Manero ang siyang pumatay kay Italian priest Tullio Favali nuong Abril 1985 sa bayan ng Tulunan sa North Cotabato. Sinasabing kinain pa ni Manero ang utak ng misyonaryo na walang awang pinatay matapos na diumano’y mapagtripan habang pauwi sakay ng kanyang motorsiklo. (Romy Bwaga)

Commies Free 2 Army POWs

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 06, 2008) – Two government soldiers seized by communist rebels have been freed Tuesday after 12 days in captivity in the southern Philippine province of Compostela Valley, a rebel leader said.

Rigoberto Sanchez, of the New People’s Army (NPA), said the two soldiers Napoleon Gerasmio and Huberto Corbita were freed after their families appealed to rebels to spare the lives of the duo.

“The issuance of this order is a unilateral act of the revolutionary political authority over the prisoners of war and is based on humanitarian grounds. We have given due consideration to the appeals made by their respective families and those that emanated from well-meaning friends in the various sectors, including those from the local government units,” Sanchez said.

He did not say where the two soldiers were released or whether they have been handed over to their families or negotiators.

Gerasmio and Corbita are both sergeants in the Philippine Army. They were captured at a rebel checkpoint on April 24 in the mountain village of Upper Ulip in Monkayo town.

Sanchez previously said that the soldiers were being investigated by a rebel court of any human rights abuses and crimes against civilians.

The NPA earlier warned that any attempt to rescue the two soldiers will put their lives at risk.

Military officials did not give any statement on the release of the soldiers, but it coincided with a massive military offensive in the province aimed at rescuing the duo.

Last year, communist rebels also seized an army soldier Sgt. Raul Reyes in Compostela Valley and freed him three weeks later on humanitarian grounds after his family appealed to rebels to spare his life.

Reyes was seized with two other militiamen Glorieto Mahumas and Rudy Villaflor, also a village chieftain, in October 7 after NPA forces raided a government post in the village of Canidkid in Montevista town. Mahumas and Villaflor later escaped from their captors.

The NPA said it seized the soldier after villagers complained that military units deployed in the town had been notorious in committing human rights abuses and violations. The rebels previously said the three would be tried for crimes committed against civilians. They had in the past kidnapped military and police officers, but also freed them to the International Committee of the Red Cross after negotiations.

The rebels, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, are fighting the Filipino government for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Philippine Rebels Hold 2 Army Soldiers In South

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 30, 2008) – Philippine communist rebels on Wednesday said they are holding two government soldiers captured during a raid on a southern town.

Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, said the two soldiers Napoleon Gerasmio and Huberto Corbita are both sergeants in the Philippine Army. They were captured at a rebel checkpoint on April 24 in the mountain village of Upper Ulip in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town.

He said the captives are being investigated by a rebel court of any human rights abuses and crimes against civilians.

“The two prisoners of war are undergoing investigation to find out any culpability for serious violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and other war crimes that they may have committed in the conduct of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ past and present counter-revolutionary war and anti-people campaigns of repression,” Sanches said.

Maj. Raymundo Aguada, spokesman for the Army's 10th Infantry Division, said government soldiers have mounted a massive operation since last week to free the duo.

The rebels warned the military that any attempt to rescue the two soldiers will put their lives at risk. “Attempts by the AFP to rescue the prisoners will only heighten the worry for the POWs' families as it will put their security in jeopardy,” Sanches warned.

Last year, the New People’s Army rebels also seized an army soldier Sgt. Raul Reyes in Compostela Valley and freed him three weeks later on humanitarian grounds after his family appealed to rebels to spare his life.

Reyes was seized with two other militiamen Glorieto Mahumas and Rudy Villaflor, also a village chieftain, in October 7 after NPA forces raided a government post in the village of Canidkid in Montevista town. Mahumas and Villaflor later escaped from their captors.

The NPA said it seized the soldier after villagers complained that military units deployed in the town had been notorious in committing human rights abuses and violations. The rebels previously said the three would be tried for crimes committed against civilians. They had in the past kidnapped military and police officers, but also freed them to the International Committee of the Red Cross after negotiations.

The rebels, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, are fighting the Filipino government for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Missing Soldier Now In Rebel Hands In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 13 Aug) – Philippine communist rebels on Monday said they are holding a government soldier captured during a firefight in the southern province of Compostela Valley.

The soldier, Private First Class Marjun Gatela, was reported missing by the Philippine Army on August 10 in the town of Monkayo after New People’s Army rebels attacked a government patrol in the village of San Isidro.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, the Philippine Army spokesman, said the soldier was reported missing. "He is missing-in-action. He could have strayed away from his group or taken hostage by the NPA," Torres said Monday.

Aries Francisco, of the NPA’s Alejandro Lanaja Command, admitted holding the soldier and said they would soon free the “prisoner of war” to his family after a rebel court found no evidence linking him to military atrocities.

Gatela is a member of the 72nd Infantry Battalion. Aside from the soldier, a government militia was also reported missing, but the NPA did not say if it is also holding him hostage or whether he was killed or not.

“His actions against the revolutionary movement and the people were merely a result of his being an element of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Not being an officer of his unit, POW Pfc. Gatela cannot be held liable for the crimes against the people and the human rights violations committed by the 72nd IB-AFP.”

“As such, the NPA's higher command has approved for Gatela's immediate release as an exercise of the revolutionary political authority by the People's Democratic Government,” Francisco said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the early and safe release of the soldier would depend on the security situation in the province.

Security officials said troops were sent to pursue the rebels holding the hostage.

“Subject to the actual conditions and security implications in the field, POW Pfc. Gatela will be released to his wife and family. The ALC-NPA shall assess the military and police movement that might hamper the safe and orderly release of Gatela,” Fransisco said.

He said the soldier was not harmed and is being treated well by rebels.

“The NPA strictly observes the rights of Gatela, in accordance to his status as a Prisoner of War under the war protocols, GRP-NDFP (Government of Republic of the Philippines-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and the 1996 NDFP Unilateral Declaration of Undertaking to Apply the Provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Protocol 1 of 1977.”

“This is in stark contrast to the AFP's practice of using torture, intimidation, physical, psychological and sexual abuse and killings towards its captives and political detainees,” he said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been fighting for a separate Maoist state in the largely Catholic country. The rebels pulled out from the peace talks with the Arroyo government in 2004 after the United States listed the CPP-NDFP and NPA as foreign terrorist organizations on Manila’s prodding. (Juan Magtanggol)

Rebels Confirm Holding Army Soldier As Prisoner Of War In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 06 May) – The New People’s Army on Sunday said it is holding captive a government soldier and will try him for war crimes in a people’s court in the southern Philippines.

Army detachment commander, Sgt. Albert Balodoya, was seized April 16 at a rebel checkpoint in the village of Aliwagwag in the town of Cateel in Davao Oriental province.

Police said the soldier was on his way to the town when rebels stopped him at the checkpoint. It said Balodoya may have mistaken the rebels for government soldiers because they were clad in military uniform.

Roel Agustin II, spokesman of the NPA’s Conrado Heredia Command, said they are holding Balodoya as a prisoner of war.

“A special investigative body was set-up by the Merardo Arce Command-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command-NPA to look into the possible war crimes and other serious violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law which may have been committed by POW SSgt. Balodoya in his 17 years of active participation in the counter-revolutionary war.”

“POW SSgt. Balodoya is the detachment commander of the 72nd Infantry Battalion-AFP; his detachment is nestled right in the midst of civilian communities in Aliwagwag, Cateel in Davao Oriental,” Agustin said in a statement sent to the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

The NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting the government for more than four decades now for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country.

The rebels have previously seized government soldiers and policemen in the countryside and put them on trial on their so-called people’s court.

Those found guilty of war crimes and serious human rights violations are executed, but most of the victims are freed after months of captivity to neutral groups, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross. (With a report from Juan Magtanggol)

Prisoners Of War Dissected Alive By Japanese Soldier

TIMES ONLINE: Dissect Them Alive: Order Not To Be Disobeyed by Richard Lloyd Parry


For 62 years, Akira Makino spoke not a word of what he’d done, but to those who knew him well it must have been obvious that he was a man with a tortured conscience. Why else would he have returned so often to the obscure, mosquito-blown town in the southern Philippines where he had experience such misery during the Second World War?

He set up war memorials, gave clothes to poor children, and bought an entire set of uniforms for a local baseball team. Last year, at the age of 83, he embarked on a gruelling pilgrimage to 88 Buddhist temples in Japan - after number 40 he collapsed from heat exhaustion, having permanently injured his knees. “My wife didn’t like me going back to the Philippines, she called me ’war crazy’,” said Mr Makino, a frailold man who lives alone in Hirakata near Osaka.

“But she let me go anyway. Right up until she died three years ago, I never told her. But over time I think she realised.” Only in the twilight of his life, has Mr Makino begun to talk about the secret which he had carried.

In 1944, as a medical auxiliary in the Japanese Imperial Navy, he was stationed in the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. There he was party to one of the most notorious and poorly chronicled cruelties of the Japanese war effort - the medical dissection and murder of living prisoners of war.

Over the course of four months before the defeat of the Japanese forces in March 1945, Mr Makino cut open the bodies of ten Filipino prisoners, including two teenage girls. He amputated their limbs, and cut up and removed their healthy livers, kidneys, wombs and still beating hearts for no better reason than to improve his knowledge of anatomy.

“It was educational,” he said. “Even today when I go to see doctors, they are impressed by my knowledge of the human body. But if I’m really honest, the reason we did it was to take revenge on these people who were spying for the Americans. Now, of course I feel terrible about the cruel thing that I did, and I think of it so often. But at the time what I felt for these people was closer to hatred than to pity.”

There have been other accounts of medical vivisection, most notoriously by Unit 731, a top secret arm of the Imperial Army which killed thousands of Chinese and Russian prisoners in Manchuria in the name of scientific research. But Mr Makino’s is the first such testimony to have emerged from the Philippines - and from the Navy, which was regarded as the less cruel and fanatical of the Imperial armed forces.

Apart from the extraordinary climax of his wartime story, Mr Makino comes across as typical of Japanese of his generation - a polite, well meaning man who lacked the immense courage and daring which would have been needed to stand up to the Imperial war machine. He was born in 1922 and grew in the port city of Kobe, where he joined the Navy in 1940. After training as a medical corpsman, he found himself sailing to and fro across East Asia in the mighty Yamato, the biggest battleship ever created. By 1942, though, the Imperial forces were on the defensive and even to sailors such as Mr Makino, defeat seemed inevitable.

“New soldiers started arriving, and they were younger and younger, 15 or 16 years old,” he remembers. “We said, ’Where are you guns?’, and they replied, ’We have no guns - but we have bamboo spears.’ It was then I knew that we had already lost the war.” It was in such an atmosphere that he found himself in Zamboanga, a Muslim town in the far south-west of the Philippines.

The local population were the Moro people, an assortment of jungle tribes legendary as ferocious head hunters. The occupying Japanese feared and hated them; as the US forces drew closer, they arrested many of them as “spies”, and threw them into a hellish pit where they were left to rot.

“I don’t know whether they really were spies or not,” said Mr Makino. “All that was needed was for someone to say that they were. We knew that we’d lost the war. Our psychological state was very strange by then. In those conditions, we could do anything, absolutely anything.”

It began with a practice which has been described by a number of former Japanese soldiers - the “testing” of traditional Japanese swords on live prisoners. “There were university graduates who had no idea how to fight, but who were officers because of their education,” Mr Makino says. “They carried swords, but never used them.

They’d say, ’Bring the POWs - we will see how sharp these swords are!’ So they tied up the prisoners and chopped their heads off. But the swords were so rusty, they couldn’t do it cleanly.”
One day towards the end of 1944, Mr Makino was summoned by his commanding officer, a navy doctor whom, even now, he declines to name. “I was his number two, and he told me that if anything happened to him, I had to take over from him. He told me to come and see a vivisection.

“The first time it was one prisoner, a middle aged man. He’d already given up - there was no struggle. He was tied to the bed and anaesthetised with ether, so that he was completely unconscious. The Lieutenant showed me what to do.He cut him open, and pointed out, ’Here’s the liver, here’s the kidneys, here’s the heart.’ The heart was still beating, then he cut the heart open and showed me the inside. That was when he died.”

“I didn’t want to do it, but it was an order, you see. At that time, if a commander gave you an order it was understood that it was the order of the Emperor, and the Emperor was a god. I had no choice - if I had disobeyed, I would have been killed.” The “operation” took about an hour; when it was over the body was sewn up and thrown into a hole in the earth. Eight more vivisections followed, Mr Makino said, up to three hours long.

“Over the course of time, I got used to it,” he said. “We removed some of the organs, and amputated legs and arms. Two of the victims were women, young women, 18 or 19 years old. I hesitate to say it, but we opened up their wombs to show the younger soldiers. They knew very little about women - it was sex education.

“I admired the lieutenant, and I was flattered that he asked me to do this because he really trusted me. I felt truly honoured. But now I know I was used.” When the Americans landed in force in March 1945, the Japanese scattered into the jungle.

Mr Makino spent seven months there, until well after the Japanese surrender, living like an animal off cats, snakes, lizards and licking water off leaves, utterly alone. A photograph take of him after his rescue by locals shows a living skeleton. But as soon as he had returned to Japan, the feelings of remorse began.

He married, had two sons, worked in a hospital and became a salaryman for a construction company. And whenever he could he returned to Zamboanga. He published a pamphlet about his experiences and spoke in schools about the horrors of war. But he never spoke of the experiments, until October when he was being interviewed by a Japanese newspaper. “It slipped out,” he said.

“But now I have talked about it, I must not stop.” Apart from a few local papers, a second interview on the news agency, Kyodo, was largely ignored by the Japanese media, an indication perhaps of the reluctance to air the subject of wartime atrocities. “No one else who knew about it survived, and it is a miracle that I am alive,” said Mr Makino.

“I have to talk about it, to tell the story to children who know nothing about such things. It brings me peace to a certain extent, but not a complete peace. I was under orders, you see. But I know that I did a terrible thing.”