Rebels release DENR surveyors

New People’s Army. FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The New People’s Army has released the contractors hired by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources whom the rebels captured last Friday for allegedly spying on them with unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.

Senior Supt. Abraham Rojas, chief of the police in Compostela Valley province, confirmed the release of the victims on Monday afternoon.

Rojas said the victims were undergoing debriefing at the mayor’s office in Maco town.

Meanwhile, Maco Vice Mayor Voltaire Rimando disputed earlier reports that all six DENR surveyors were kidnapped, saying that Matthew Cua did not join the others on the trek to conduct the survey operations.

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte took the five hostages under him when they were released

The NPA had earlier admitted holding Ken Wong, the manager and leader of the Skyeye UAV Services team consisting of Chrisandro Favela, Tim Sabino, and Nico Lasaca. Also taken was Jonas Loredo, a driver of the Maria Ave car rental service.

Daniel Ibarra, spokesperson of the Comval Davao Gulf Sub Regional Command of the NPA, said in a statement e-mailed earlier Monday to news media offices that the drone operators were captured because they had violated the policy of the “revolutionary government” against the use of surveillance equipment in guerrilla zones.

Ibarra said the “DENR/Skyeye’s anti-logging aerial reconnaissance is merely a pretext to intensify imperialist mining plunder and counter-revolutionary intelligence in Southern Mindanao.”

Ibarra said the rebels confiscated a sky surfer drone, two multi-rotor drones, two laptops and a GPS.

In the same statement, Ibarra said they were willing to release the captives if the company would completely stop its operations in guerrilla zones. – With a report from Bong Lozada, INQUIRER.net

Originally posted at 3:21 pm | Monday, June 2, 2014

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