Village exec, woman abducted in Agusan Sur; pursuit operations launched

The NPA is the armed unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and has been waging an insurgency since 1969. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Government forces launched hot pursuit operations against New People’s Army rebels who abducted a woman and a village official in Agusan del Sur on Sunday afternoon.

“The AFP condemns this recent violent activity by the NPAs…This act of abduction is a clear manifestation of the NPAs becoming more of a criminal organization resolving to desperate measures to further their atrocities,” Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Public Affairs Office, said on Tuesday.

He said combined elements from the military and police are now conducting pursuit operations against the rebels in the hopes of rescuing the abducted individuals.

On Sunday, an undetermined number of armed rebels asked around the residents in Sta. Teresa in Loreto town about a certain Kagawad (council member) Edward Bantusan.

The group found Bantusan, hogtied him and boarded him on a motorcycle that sped off to Cabuga sub-village. The armed men also took with them two women but one was later left in a nearby area of the same town.