Pampanga archbishop appeals to rebels to free two civilians

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto has appealed to the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) to immediately release two civilians it abducted in Masinloc, Zambales last July 24.

Aniceto aired the appeal as the communist rebel group, the military arm of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines, threatened to harm Dante Carpio and Alberto Centino if their relatives would seek help for their release.

"Under the fatherhood of God, I fervently plead to the compassionate hearts and deep humanitarian sense of the captors of Carpio and Centino to allow them to go back to their families who are presently suffering intense traumatic anxiety and insecurity," the archbishop said in an appeal he issued through the human rights group, Karapatan-Central Luzon.

As this developed, sketchy reports reaching Camp Olivas said one Reynaldo Layman, a ranking RHB top leader, was shot dead by unidentified men at about 5 p.m. the other day in San Agustin, Sta. Ana, Pampanga.

Layman, who sustained 33 bullet wounds, was believed responsible for the killing of at least five people whom the RHB accused of supporting its rival, the New People’s Army (NPA).

In a statement, Karapatan-CL denounced the RHB for allegedly "threatening to harm (Carpio and Centino) if their families persist in seeking help for their immediate release."

The two captives’ relatives told Karapatan-CL that they got a cellular phone call, purportedly from the RHB, warning them not to seek the help of the human rights group "or else something bad would happen" to Carpio and Centino.

In a statement, the NPA’s Josepino Corpuz Command vowed "revolutionary justice" for the kidnapped civilians.

The NPA said the RHB seized Centino and Carpio in Barangay San Lorenzo in Masinloc, Zambales "on suspicions that they were NPA fighters."

The RHB-NPA rift heightened after the killing of Bartolome Quizon, a top RHB commander, late last year. The NPA owned up to the killing. — Ding Cervantes