CPP-NPA releases Air Force major

TARLAC CITY — Communist rebels finally released an Air Force major they had held captive for eight months.

In a statement, Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, spokesman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said Maj. Neptune Elequin was turned over to Sen. Rodolfo Biazon and Church officials who facilitated his release in a coastal area somewhere in Central Luzon Friday night.

In a statement shortly after Elequin’s release, the Air Force said the major was involved in a government project to build farm-to-market roads, school buildings and reservoirs in 36 villages in Pampanga.

It said the rebels may have resorted to the abduction of unarmed military engineers to prevent the government from pursuing development projects in the area where their influence over the locals is thought to be waning.

In a phone interview, Biazon told The STAR that Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo told him in a meeting two weeks ago that the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), had expressed willingness to release Elequin.

"Congressman Ocampo asked me if I could play a role in the release of Maj. Elequin," he said. 

Although he could not understand his part at first, Biazon said he readily agreed. 

Biazon said Ocampo met him again last Wednesday to discuss the final details of Elequin’s release.

One of the two Church officials who joined him in the turnover called him late Friday afternoon to confirm that Elequin would be released as planned, said Biazon without naming the two Church officials.

From Fort Bonifacio, Biazon said the Church officials and NPA emissaries took him to a coastal area in Central Luzon.  

He said they had to take a 30-minute boat ride to an NPA camp where Elequin was being held.

In his statement, Rosal said the CPP-NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF) agreed to turn over Elequin to Biazon because of the senator’s "independence and willingness to listen to, address and resolve the concerns of the people, the revolutionary movement and the anti-Arroyo officers and men within the (Armed Forces) and PNP (Philippine National Police)."

"It’s his stand in the peace talks which made us consider him as the most likely person to facilitate the release of Elequin," he said.

Elequin, an Air Force engineer, and four civilian companions were stopped at an NPA checkpoint in Floridablanca, Pampanga on July 2 last year. The rebels later released the civilians.

Rosal said Elequin was released in response to the appeals of his family and as an "gesture of goodwill and offer of friendship and cooperation by the CPP, NPA and the revolutionary movement to the growing number of officials and men of the AFP and PNP who have become critical, enlightened and ready to fight" the administration of President Arroyo.

Rosal blamed the delay in the release of Elequin on the government’s "adamant refusal" to negotiate his release, instead ordering an intensified military offensive in Central Luzon.

Earlier, the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) offered to issue safe conduct passes to rebels who would release Elequin.

The CPP-NPA agreed to free Elequin before last Christmas but put this on hold due to what NDF spokesman Jorge Reyes said was the series of killings of activists.

The NDF has blamed the military for the deaths of Victorina Gomez and Romeo Atienza, both officials of Barangay Parian in Mexico, Pampanga, and Jess Alcantara, Bayan Muna municipal coordinator in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, last December.  

NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni signed the "order of release" for Elequin. — With Cesar Ramirez and AP