No hand in ‘abduction’ of NDF man’s daughter

The military denied yesterday that it had anything to do with the reported abduction of an 18-year-old daughter of a National Democratic Front (NDF) leader in Samar.

Maj. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, said the NDF should better present enough evidence to prove its accusation that his men were behind the reported disappearance of one Rosa Guardlana.

Guardlana is the daughter of Abdias Guardlana, also known as Dodong Penaranda, who is also said to be a ranking rebel leader in Eastern Visayas.

"We have checked with existing files and with units concerned. Nothing and nobody could confirm the incident being described," Dominguez said.

The NDF accused the military of abducting Rosa purportedly to force her father to surrender to the government.

Last August, the United States declared the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as foreign terrorist organizations, laying the legal framework to go after their assets abroad.

A source said the government is sending a top-level mission, to be led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople himself, to European countries to get either a collective or bilateral resolution against the CPP-NPA.

President Arroyo, the source said, wants the mission to present a dossier to these countries to goad them into issuing a collective statement against the CPP-NPA led by Jose Ma. Sison. — With Miriam Garcia Desacada and Aurea Calica