NPA to free mayor’s military escorts

DAVAO CITY—The New People’s Army (NPA) announced that it took pity on the two soldier-escorts of Lingig, Surigao del Sur, Mayor Henry Dano, whom it abducted along with the mayor in August, even though their “crimes” called for the maximum penalty of death.

This was the reason Cpl. Alrey Desamparado and Pfc. Alan Saban—both of the Army’s 75th Infantry Battalion—will soon be rejoining their families even if “there are clear and justifiable bases for the (NPA) to mete out the maximum penalty of death,” said Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command, in an e-mail sent to the Inquirer on Thursday.

Among the “crimes” the two soldiers committed were their participation in military intelligence operations that led to the death of an NPA cadre in Bukidnon several months ago; and the arrest of an NPA leader and two more cadres in June.

The death of the NPA cadre alone was enough reason to collect blood debt from the two soldiers, Sanchez said.

“However, as an act of humanitarianism… the NPA will grant the conditional release of the two captured enemy intelligence officers. Their release shall be undertaken together with that of Mayor Henry Dano,” he said.

As to the actual date of the release of Dano and the soldiers, Jorge Madlos, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, said this was entirely dependent on the suspension of military and police operations in the prospective release areas.

“It is not too much to ask. We don’t want the POWs to be caught in the crossfire,” he said.

The police and the military’s refusal to suspend operations in Magpet, North Cotabato, was also the main reason the NPA had called off the release of the four personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology they abducted in Bukidnon in July, a North Cotabato official said.

Dens Manangkil, liaison officer of North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño, said Insp. Murphy Todyog, Jail Warden Erico Llamares, Special Jail Officer 2 Rogelio Begontes and Special Jail Officer 1 Rolando Bajoyo Jr. were to be released yesterday but the NPA said it was wary  of the presence of soldiers near the release area.

Col. Jovencio Gonzales, commander of the 57th Infantry Battalion, denied there were soldiers near the release area in Magpet town. “Our men had already been told to back out from the area,” he said.

Manangkil said there was no further advise as to when the release would take place. Carlo Agamon and Dennis Jay Santos, Inquirer Mindanao