Mercado rejects Loren's plea

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado flatly rejected yesterday the request of Sen. Loren Legarda for the government to suspend military operations in the entire Southern Tagalog to effect the release of Army Maj. Noel Buan and police Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin who were abducted by the New People's Army (NPA) last year.

Mercado said Legarda told him in a recent meeting that the Netherlands-based leaders of the National Democratic Front (NDF) demanded that the Armed Forces stop its rescue efforts for Buan and Martin and suspend its operations in the region.

If the NDF is sincere in releasing the officers, Mercado said it should not impose any conditions.

"We are willing to help in the release (of the officers), but the rebels should specify the area (where military operations will be suspended)," Mercado said.

"(The release area) has to be a more practical area," he said, adding it is unthinkable for the government to suspend its drive against communist rebels in the entire region.

He said the NPA will only take advantage of the hiatus by moving and consolidating its forces.

The suspension of military operations, he added, will also enable the NPA to acquire more arms and collect "revolutionary taxes" from the local populace and businesses.

"(The NDF) should also specify not only when and where operations should be suspended, but also for how long. Releasing hostages should not take more than a few days," Mercado said.

Buan, deputy intelligence chief of the Armed Forces' Southern Luzon Command, was abducted by NPA guerrillas in Quezon in July 1999.

Four months later, some 50 heavily armed rebels raided the Dolores, Quezon police station, carting away several high-powered firearms and taking Martin, the town's police chief, as hostage.