NPA holding 3 men asking for P25M, says gov
TAGUM CITY—New People’s Army rebels holding three men they earlier took as hostages from a mining company in Rosario, Agusan del Sur, on Thursday were asking money or guns, officials said on Friday.
Agusan del Sur Vice Gov. Santiago Cane Jr. told the Inquirer by phone that the rebels wanted P25 million in exchange for the freedom of Christopher Ocite, operations manager of VPO Mining; Gani Altaya, assistant operations manager; and Joel Jayuma, the firm’s security chief.
The three men were inside the compound of VPO Mining, which the Ocite family owns, in Barangay Bayugan 3 when about 30 rebels arrived early Thursday.
Disguised
“The (rebels) disguised as soldiers and pretended to conduct an inspection at the mining firm, before announcing the raid,” Supt. Martin Gamba, spokesperson of the Caraga regional police office, said.
He said the rebels then disarmed the security personnel of the mining company and fled with Ocite, Altaya and Jayuma.
Maj. Eugenio Julio Osias IV, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, said the rebels also carted away at least 17 firearms from the company’s guards.
The attack against the mining firm came barely a day after a convoy of police and Army troops were ambushed while escorting a group of provincial officials visiting Barangay Katipunan in Veruela town, also in Agusan del Sur. A tribal chieftain and a policeman were hurt in that incident.
Crisis committee
Cane said the provincial crisis management committee has not stepped in as it wanted Rosario officials to resolve the hostage-taking crisis.
“The provincial government would step in upon request from the municipal crisis committee,” he said.
Cane said he was told the local crisis management committee was trying to establish communication with the NPA in the hope of securing the release of the hostages.
Osias said they have not heard of the P25-million demand but they learned, from town officials, that the rebels wanted a K3 light machine gun and an Armalite rifle before releasing the hostages.
“The local crisis management committee led by Mayor Jose Cuyos would convene later in the day for whatever development related to this incident,” Osias told the Inquirer by phone.
Banditry
Col. Romeo Gan, commander of the Army’s 401st Infantry Brigade, said the incident proved the military’s theory that the NPA has been reduced to plain banditry.
“Motivated by their own selfish interests, the NPAs have neglected their ideology for a long time now and have become mere rogues and bandits preying on the rich and the poor,” he said.
The Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City, one of the military’s two major commands in Mindanao, said the NPA remains its biggest headache as far as the island’s peace and order is concerned.
“More than half of the CPP-NDF-NPA guerilla fronts in the country are operating in Mindanao, making it still a main threat to the island’s security,” Lt. Gen. Jorge Segovia, Eastmincom commander, said.
Segovia said 27 NPA fronts operate in the Davao and Caraga regions, prompting the military to declare the areas priority in its anticommunist campaign.
“In August 2000, Davao Region is the only identified priority area of the government in terms of security against the rebel movement. However, recently, the attention of priority had shifted to Caraga Region due to several incidents involving NPA operations among others, extortion activities specifically on mining, agribusiness, and other business entities,” he said.
Deradicalization
To counter the insurgency problem, Segovia said Eastmincom is now using the “deradicalization strategy.” Under the strategy, civilians are persuaded to shy away from the insurgency.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been waging a protracted war for several decades now.
Talks with the rebels have bogged down on the issue of release of political prisoners. Frinston Lim with reports from Bobby Lagsa and Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao
