NPAs seize soldier, cop

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels seized a soldier and a policeman in the hinterland town of Laak in Compostela Valley last Wednesday, the military said.

Maj. Jake Obligado, chief of the Army’s 10th Civil-Military Operations Battalion, said at least 12 guerrillas wearing camouflage uniforms and 18 others in civilian attire put up a checkpoint in Barangay Imelda, Laak town.

The rebels reportedly belong to the Front 34 of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee.

Obligado said the insurgents first snatched Pfc. Jezreel Culango, based in the neighboring town of San Isidro in Davao del Norte, who was reportedly on his way to visit his girlfriend.

PO1 Roel Pasion, also assigned in San Isidro, also happened to pass by the NPA checkpoint and he, too, was seized.

After taking Culango and Pasion hostage, Obligado said the rebels then left the area.

Joint police and military forces have conducted pursuit operations against the rebels in an effort to rescue Culango and Pasion.

Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza, spokesman of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, yesterday said the kidnapping violates the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law, of which the National Democratic Front is a signatory.

“We are coordinating with the peace panel so we can study this act by the armed rebels,” Paniza told The STAR in a phone interview.

He took note that Culango was “unarmed and had no capability to fight.”

“It is also a criminal act. We are also studying the cases to be filed,” he said

“This is a desperate move of the lawless armed group NPA because their legal fronts failed in the propaganda,” he added. – With Alexis Romero