Compostela rebels free Army man

DAVAO CITY – The New People’s Army (NPA) released last night an Army soldier it captured following an ambush in Monkayo, Compostela Valley last Friday.

In a statement, Aries Francisco of the NPA’s Alejandro Lanaja Command said Pfc. Marjun Gatela of the Army’s 72nd Infantry Battalion was found not to have committed any “crime against the people on his own individual volition.”

“His actions against the revolutionary movement and the people were merely a result of his being an element of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” the NPA said.

Lt. Col. Rolando Bautista, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division based in Davao City, said Gatela belongs to the Army’s cadre battalion in charge of all CAFGU detachments in Southern Mindanao. – Edith Regalado