NPA rebels release 6 hostages

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte – A 10-year-old girl and five other persons taken hostage by New People’s Army rebels during a raid on the offices of a security agency here have been freed unharmed, officials said Wednesday.

Superintendent Epe Rillo, Tagum police chief, said the victims were handed over by the rebels to a Catholic priest in Maco, Compostela Valley, after holding them captive for about 24 hours.

He identified some of the freed hostages as Terecio Laplana, manager of the local office of the Dasia Security Agency; his wife Concepcion; and their daughter.

Rillo said the Monday night’s raid on the Dasia security agency appeared to have been coordinated with NPA units in North Cotabato and Compostela Valley.

In North Cotabato, six van drivers were also briefly held but were later set free. The vans they were driving were taken away by the rebels.

NPA rebels also detonated a land mine on the Tagum-Agusan highway in Barangay (village) Magdum here on Monday as an Army truck was passing by. Five soldiers and a civilian were wounded in that explosion.

“It looks like a joint operation,” he said.

The NPA on Wednesday issued separate statements and owned up to the attacks as part of its campaign “against legitimate targets.”