Commies to free POW in Mindanao

From the Mindanao Examiner (May 5): Commies to free POW in Mindanao

Communist rebels holding a policeman in the southern Philippines said they are ready to free the prisoner provided the military halts its operations in the region to ensure the safety of the officer.

The New People’s Army rebels are holding PO3 Maula Tato Ali, who was captured April 19 at a checkpoint in the village of Bato-bato in President Roxas town in North Cotabato province.

“To expedite the safe and expeditious release, the Armed Forces of the Philippine must cease its operations in the towns of Arakan, Magpet, Antipas and President Roxas in North Cotabato, and contiguous entry areas in Baguio and Marilog districts in Davao City,” Rubi del Mundo, a spokesperson for the New People’s Army, said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

Del Mundo said the 84th and 57th Infantry Battalions have intensified its combat operations in those areas where the NPA is holding Ali.

Ali underwent investigations by the NPA and found no reasons to hold him longer. “POW Ali showed that he did not commit significant offenses against the masses and the revolutionary forces. He also did not figure in the cover-up or obstruction of justice that the Arakan police had committed in the case of Fr. Fausto "Pops" Tentorio who was martyred in October 2011,” Del Mundo said.

The NPA has been fighting for decades for the establishment of a separate state in the country.

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