NPA turns over captive to Bong Go

Christopher “Bong” Go, President Duterte’s most trusted aide, gives shoes to rebels so they can “play basketball.” —ARJOY CENIZA

MAGPET, North Cotabato — It was a role President Rodrigo Duterte was all too familiar with as mayor of Davao City — to take custody of a New People’s Army (NPA) captive.

But now that he is President, he could no longer do it because of protocol and security.

So his most trusted and longtime aide, Christopher “Bong” Go, had to do it without his boss and accepted the release on Saturday of Insp. Menardo Cui after seven months of captivity by the NPA.

The mere attendance of Go could have meant the President’s too, but Go made his presence felt not by a speech but by giving away sneakers to rebels so they can “play basketball,” Go’s favorite sport.

Cui wore a white sweatshirt with the words “NPA POW” as he sat on a makeshift stage in the ceremony for his release at a rebel camp here.

Sad moment

Seconds later, he wept when a rebel emcee announced that his wife had died of cancer while Cui was in captivity.

The gesture was meant as a sign of the rebels’ goodwill in the hope of reviving peace talks between National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which represents all underground rebel groups, with the government.

Cui sat on the stage teary eyed as a female rebel read the NPA release order.

It said Cui “was released on humanitarian consideration.”

Cui, according to the NPA order read by a rebel named Ka Trisha, “showed genuine contrition” for his “sins against the people and the revolutionary movement.”

Cui, 49, was deputy police chief of President Roxas town in North Cotabato, when he was snatched at gunpoint by NPA rebels in Magpet on Dec. 28 last year.

The rebels turned over Cui to Go and representatives of religious rights group Exodus for Justice and Peace.

Go thanked rebels for the release and for not harming Cui. He said Cui’s family sought his help early in January.

The freed officer thanked his former captors, calling them “brothers and sisters,” as he appealed for peace talks to resume “so death would not triumph all over us.”

He gave cash to the freed officer and also two pairs of sneakers to NPA fighters. —Frinston Lim