NPA to free Air Force chaplain next month

A Philippine Air Force chaplain abducted by communist guerrillas will be released next month, the Armed Forces said yesterday, citing field reports.

The military said the kidnappers of Capt. Melchor Fernando, believed to be headed by Mario Hontiveros of the New People's Army (NPA), had sent a letter to a friend of the victim saying he would be freed in February.

Fernando was seized on Jan. 5 while visiting a newly acquired four-hectare farm in Mindoro. Fernando's friend to whom the NPA wrote to inform him of the imminent release was identified as Joven Magpusao, owner of a beachhouse near the farm.

The Armed Forces last week ruled out negotiations to secure his release, but blasted the abduction as a "deplorable, treacherous and unwarranted act."

Fernando was abducted at around 11 a.m. by five armed NPA rebels led by Hontiveros, alias Dewey, and a certain Manny Tecson, in Sitio Igsusu, Barangay Tubili, Paluan, Occidental Mindoro.

Two hours later, the suspects, who were clad in fatigue uniforms and wearing slippers, as well as Fernando, boarded a pumpboat owned by a certain Dodong and asked to be brought to Calavite Point, Barangay Manano in Paluan.

There, the victim and his captors got off and walked towards the direction of Mt. Calavite.

Dodong and his companion, Noel Maderazo, later told police they saw the rebels handcuff Fernando and seize his .45 caliber service pistol. The victim was reportedly carrying P40,00 in cash at the time of his abduction.

The Army's Southern Luzon Command and the Philippine National Police have formed a joint task force, "Seagull," to track down Fernando and his abductors.

Fernando, chaplain of the PAF Training Wing based in Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, is the third soldier or policeman to be taken captive by the guerrillas since July when Army Maj. Noel Buan was seized by the rebels. Police Inspector Abelardo Martin was kidnapped by the NPA in November.

The military has refused to negotiate their release, saying it would give legitimacy to the communists, who insisted the three were "prisoners of war."

But an independent, non-government humanitarian peace mission last week convinced exiled rebel leaders based in the Netherlands to free both Buan and Martin in six weeks.

The mission, headed by Sen. Loren Legarda, was disowned by President Estrada.

Last year, the rebels abducted several police and military officers, including an Army general, who were all later freed unharmed.

Peace talks between Manila and the rebels were terminated in May.