Yano: No deal with soldier's NPA captors

“No deal.”

Armed Forces chief Gen. Alexander Yano stressed this point yesterday amid ongoing military efforts to secure the safe release of 1Lt. Vicente Cammayo whom the New People’s Army (NPA) has declared a “prisoner of war” following his capture in Compostela Valley early this month.

As far as the military is concerned, Yano said Cammayo is only missing and if there are reports that the NPA is holding him captive, the military, as a matter of policy, will not negotiate his release.

“We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” he said.

“They want to glamorize the activity into a prisoner-of-war thing to gain some belligerency status. I feel that there is no serious ideology that is involved here. (These are) pure and simple money-making activities…,” he added.  – Jaime Laude