Families ask NPA to free 4 jail officers

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines—The families of the four personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), who were taken hostage by communist rebels in Bukidnon on Thursday, issued on Friday an appeal for their release.

The BJMP personnel—Ozamiz City Jail Warden Inspector Erico Llamazares, Cagayan de Oro City Jail chief escort Inspector Murphy Tujog, Jail Officer 2 Rogelio Beguntes and Jail officer 1 Roland Bajuyo—were part of a 10-man team transporting eight convicted prisoners to the Davao Penal Farm in Davao del Norte.

Rebels

Their two-vehicle convoy, also bearing New People’s Army (NPA) leader Dennis Rodenas, who had been convicted of illegal possession of explosives, was traversing Quezon town in Bukidnon when flagged down by communist rebels posing as soldiers.

The rebels seized the four BJMP personnel and sprung Rodenas. They eventually allowed the rest of the convoy to proceed to Davao del Norte.

NPA confirmation

While it confirmed custody of the BJMP personnel, the NPA’s Herminio Alfonso Command based in Southern Mindanao remained mum on the fate of the captives or what it was planning to do with them.

Emily, Llamazares’ wife, said she was increasingly getting worried about her husband and his companions’ safety.

She urged the rebels to free her husband, whom she said, was only doing his job.

Senior Insp. Mea Lee Tujog, wife of Insp. Tujog, said the uncertainty over the fate of their husbands made them sleepless.

She said they were worried the rebels would harm the captives.

Appeal

Supt. Clint Russel Taghiris, deputy chief of the BJMP in Northern Mindanao, said the captives would not serve any purpose to the rebels.

“Please let them go,” he said in an appeal aired on a local radio station.

Major Eugene Osias, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division here, said soldiers and policemen were working side by side to locate the rebels and possibly rescue the captives.

He would not provide additional information on the probable location of the rebels, who had been waging a war for more than 40 years.