Captured troops safe, says NDF

The communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) in Southern Mindanao assured yesterday the relatives of the Army and police officers who are being held captive by New People’s Army rebels in Compostela Valley that they are being treated well by the rebels.

In an open letter to Mariel Cammayo, wife of 1st Lt. Vicente Cammayo of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion and Ma. Luisa Tumol, wife of Police Officer 3 Eduardo Tumol, the NDF said the captives are in good condition and rebels are giving them food and enough sleep.

“The only comfort that I can give you is to reiterate the assurance that we are taking good care of your husbands. We have gone beyond what is required by the Geneva Conventions as lenient treatment for soldiers who surrender and are taken as prisoners of war. Certainly, the hospitality that we can offer is very basic and unlike the comfort that your husbands have been used to. But they eat more than what we eat. They sleep more comfortably than we do,” said Rubi Del Mundo, spokesperson of the NDF-Southern Mindanao.

She said the NPA ensured the safety, security and welfare of Cammayo and Tumol, and the captives have not been subjected to any kind of physical or psychological torture.

Del Mundo said the NPA understands the anguish that is being experienced by Cammayo’s wife, and this has prompted the rebels to release a video showing the officer’s present condition in captivity.

“In your present condition, you are very vulnerable. It would not be good for you to be unduly stressed. Your husband is also very concerned for you. However, he also understands that your first priority right now is to take care of your unborn child,” she said.

Del Mundo said that with the officers being declared as prisoners of war, their families could be assured that Cammayo and Tumol are being treated well and their rights, protected under the International Humanitarian Law.

She said Cammayo and Tumol are currently under investigation for possible violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws that they may have committed in the course of implementing the US-Arroyo regime’s counter-revolutionary Operation Plan Bantay Laya II.

“As your husbands are ranking officers and men, they are directly responsible for orders that have resulted in hurting many innocent civilians in the areas where they have been deployed. The Revolutionary Court conducts investigations as expeditiously as possible. At the same time, we take our investigations seriously and thorough. The results of these investigations will be made public. Upon the capture of your husbands, the legal and judicial process of the revolutionary government has commenced. A couple of weeks will not be enough time to accomplish this, more so under condition of fierce military operations,” Del Mundo said.

The NDF official also said the two would be accorded their right to due process under the “revolutionary court.”

Cammayo, according to the NPA, led his team during a brigade-size military operation in Monkayo town early last month when ambushed by the rebels under the Alejandro Lanaja Command in Sitio Anagase in Barangay Casoon in the said town.

Three of his men, and a militiaman were killed during the said firefight. The rebels also seized an M60 machine gun and three other high-powered rifles, and other equipment.