Rebs not obligated to free mayor, 6 others, says NDF

MANILA, Philippines - Communist rebels yesterday maintained that they do not have the obligation to free the four jail officials, a municipal mayor and two soldiers they seized since they are not covered by immunity guarantees.

The National Democratic Front (NDF) chided government chief negotiator Alexander Padilla for demanding the release of its captives, whom it regards as “prisoners of war.”

“Padilla must understand that the current POWs (prisoners of war) under the custody of the NPA (New People’s Army) in Mindanao have been arrested in the course of the armed revolution and are not protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG),” NDF spokesman Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement.

Under the JASIG, officials, consultants and staff members of the NDF involved in tasks related to the peace talks enjoy immunity from arrest.

Agcaoili said the NPA captives are also not subject to any other agreement between the government and NDF negotiating panels.

“Padilla implies the need to exchange prisoners but perversely accuses the NDF of demanding such an exchange,” he said.

The NDF is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA that have been waging a Maoist guerrilla war for more than four decades.

Lingig, Surigao del Sur Mayor Henry Dano, his two military aides and the four jail officers were seized separately by NPA rebels despite the ongoing peace talks.

About 30 rebels kidnapped Dano in his house in Barangay Lawan, Lingig town last Aug. 6. Previous reports said the kidnapping coincided with a meeting between Agcaoili and Padilla in Makati City.

The insurgents disarmed Dano’s military bodyguards, and then seized two of them and the mayor.

Last July 21, communist rebels kidnapped four officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Kitao-tao, Bukidnon. The four were moving detainees from Ozamis City to the Davao Penal Colony when they were snatched.

The government has asked the communist rebels to prove their sincerity in pursuing the peace talks by stopping their kidnapping activities.

Padilla said the rebels staged the kidnappings even if the government has freed five NDF consultants as a confidence-building measure.

He also accused the NDF of delaying the peace process by demanding the release of its supposed peace consultants detained on criminal charges.

“They (NDF) have continued to demand releases of their alleged consultants before proceeding to all-important talks on substantive reforms,” Padilla said in a previous statement.  

The NDF, however, insisted that the government should free its alleged consultants.

Meanwhile, the NPA has released video footages and pictures of the four captive jail officers.

The pictures of the four BJMP personnel – Inspector Murphy Bomoway Todyog, jail warden Erico Dacillo Llamasares, Special Jail Officer 2 Rogelio Begontes, and Jail Officer 1 Rolando Delta Bajoyo Jr. – were taken last Aug. 23 and released by the NDF-Southern Mindanao. – With Edith Regalado