Rebels take army soldier in Southern Philippines

From the Mindanao Examiner (Apr 26): Rebels take army soldier in Southern Philippines

New People’s Army rebel captured a government soldier in the southern Philippines where the communist rebel group launched a series of offensive against military targets in the troubled region.

Daniel Ibarra, a spokesman for the rebel group, said NPA forces captured Pfc. Jesus Tomas, Jr, who is a member of the 71st Infantry Battalion, in the village of Elizalde in Compostela Valley’s Maco town.

He said Tomas was part of a three-man supply team of the army.

“Prisoner-of-war Tomas is currently undergoing investigation for his involvement in counterrevolutionary and anti-people activities,” Ibarra said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

He said the capture of Tomas also coincided with the attack on the soldier’s unit and police forces in Compostela Valley’s Mabini town in retaliation to the brutal killing of an eight-year old Roque Antivo and two other children by government troops.

“The (New) People's Army will continue to inflict blows versus the enemy, especially in its weakest points, and take POWs, fortify people's defense against the onslaught of the rabid Oplan Bayanihan and expose the rotten US-Aquino regime. Abusive police and military men and officers are legitimate targets, and undesirable elements in the communities are subject to the NPA and regulations of the People's Democratic Government,” Ibarra said, referring to the government's anti-insurgency campaign which is supported by the United States.

The NPA has been waging a separatist war the past decades.

http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/04/rebels-take-army-soldier-in-southern.html