NPA abducts 3 cops, 2 soldiers; seizes, then frees retired policeman in Mindanao

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The New People’s Army took three policemen and two soldiers when it conducted checkpoints in select areas in Northern Mindanao and Caraga Region on Sunday morning.

It also held captive for a time a retired policeman but released him later due to his health problems.

“We are establishing communication channel (with the abductors) to have the police officers released,” Supt. Surki Sereñas, spokesperson of the police in Northern Mindanao, said on Monday.

Sereñas said they have made efforts to reach out to people on the ground who might have contact with the insurgents to ask them to release the captured law enforcers.

The rebels put up roadblocks in Barangay Capitan Bayong, Impasug-ong and in Barangay Santiago, Manolo Fortich, and Barangay Ticalaan, Talakag, all in Bukidnon, and in Barangay Mandahilag, Talisayan, Misamis Oriental, for about 30 minutes and then left with their captives.

The NPA’s North Central Mindanao Region, in an e-mailed statement, said the rebels took with them Senior Police Officer 1 Warren Hansol Coñales and Police Officer 3 Edwin Castor at the rebels’ checkpoint in Capitan Bayong.

Coñales, whose 9mm Gloc pistol was confiscated by the insurgents, is stationed at the Impasug-ong municipal police, while Castor is assigned in Wao, Lanao del Sur.

Orlando Magamay, a retired police officer, was also abducted in the same area but was released later on due to health reasons.

Sereñas said Magamay’s release was through the help of a barangay official in Impasug-ong who reportedly got in touch with the NPA fighters in facilitating his freedom.

In Barangay Santiago, the NPA’s Eastern Misamis Oriental-Northeastern Bukidnon (EMONEB) Subregional Command flagged down motorists passing through the provincial road and handed out reading materials on the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitaria Law (CARHRIHL).

The NPA captured SPO4 Rene Rombo, who is assigned at the Kinoguitan municipal police, while they were having the road block in Mandahilag. Taken from him were his 9mm and .45 pistols.

“During the debriefing, Magamay said he and his companions were not hurt by the NPA and they were well-fed. His basic needs were accommodated by his captors,” Sereñas said.

The NPA also set up checkpoints in villages in the towns of Carmen, Buenavista, and Las Nieves, Agusan del Norte.

In Barangay Lower Olave, Buenavista, the rebels took Privates First Class Glenn Austria and Diven Abion Tawide, both belonging to the 23rd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division.  SFM