Rebs seize policeman after 2 other cops escape

DAVAO CITY—New People’s Army (NPA) rebels on Friday seized another police officer, this time in North Cotabato, barely a day after the two policemen they had earlier abducted in Agusan del Sur made a daring escape from captivity.

PO2 Mike Ali, a member of the town’s police force, was walking to his farm in Barangay Tahontong with his wife and son when they were snatched by NPA rebels at around 10 a.m., according to Felix Patrimonio, administrator of Arakan town in North Cotabato.

Patrimonio said Ali’s wife and son were unharmed and were subsequently released by the rebels.

“It was she who alerted the police about her husband’s abduction,” Patrimonio said.

The authorities immediately launched a manhunt operation, he added.

In Agusan del Sur, the NPA had confirmed the escape of P01 Nemuel España and P02 Allan Muñez on Thursday.

NPA rebels seized the two officers on Monday as the two were returning to a police station in Loreto township in southern Agusan del Sur province after investigating an incident in a nearby village.

Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo said that late Thursday, Muñez was able to grab an AK-47 rifle from one of the guards and shoot him and another guerrilla. The officers then fled from the rebel camp but got separated.

It was unclear if the guerrillas were killed or just wounded.

Ka Aris Francisco, NPA spokesperson in Agusan del Sur, said in a media statement that the NPA now considers the two policemen “fugitives,” who would be “rearrested” on sight.

He did not provide details involving the escape but the Caraga regional police office said Muñez was able to wrestle an AK47 from one of their guards and used this to shot two other rebels.

He and España then took advantage of the chaos and dashed toward their freedom.

The rebels said the officers were “arrested” at a gambling den following complaints from villagers that the pair was involved in extortion, drunken disturbances and drug pushing.

In the Caraga police report, Muñez, still clinging on to the AK47, reached the Loreto police station late night Thursday. España followed a few minutes later.

Jorge Madlos, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, had earlier justified the seizure of the two police officers “because of mounting complaints against their unlawful activities.”

“There were also reports the two may have been involved in illegal drugs as well,” he said.

Francisco said while the NPA has gathered pieces of evidence that showed the two policemen had been abusive in their duties, their “crimes” were not enough to put them on trial by the revolutionary court.

Francisco said the NPA was to set free the two police officers, as it did to four militiamen, whom, guerrillas had also seized in Agusan del Sur this week. But because they had escaped from custody, they were now considered “fugitives from the laws of the People’s Democratic Government and are targets for rearrest.”  Carlo Agamon, Edwin Fernandez and Dennis Jay Santos, Inquirer Mindanao and AP