File photo of an NPA formation
The New People’s Army in northern Mindanao said it is holding four policemen captured during a rebel raid on the municipal police station of Alegria, Surigao del Norte late last week.
A statement in Cebuano from the National Democratic Front Northeast Mindanao chapter acknowledged that the NPA lost a fighter during the July 10 raid and another who was shot dead by police in nearby Kitcharao when the cargo truck commandeered by the retreating rebels broke down in the town.
Aside from the slain fighters, the NPA also lost an M16 and an AK-47, both damaged, during the Kitcharao incident, rebel spokesperson Maria Malaya said.
Malaya said Police Officer 3 Vic Concon and PO1s Rey Morales, Joen Zabala, and Edito Roquino were in a patrol car when they ran into an NPA blocking force.
Three M16 rifles and four pistols were seized from them.
During the raid on the Alegria police station, the NPA captured four M16s, an M14, an M4, five shotguns, and six pistols.
PO2s Romero Inflow and Reuben Salino were wounded in the raid and surrendered, the rebel spokeswoman said. Malaya, in a separate statement, also acknowledged that a civilian inside the police station had been wounded and said they would compensate the victim.
Detailing the incident in Kitcharao, Malaya said the truck carrying the Alegria raiders, who were retreating with their slain comrade, broke down, and as the NPA fighters got down, were fired at by five policemen “who had mixed in with students in the area, making it hard for the NPA to return fire for fear of hitting civilians and causing them more casualties.”
The rebels had to abandon the bodies of their slain comrades, along with the damaged weapons and the raiding units’ backpacks, Malaya said.
She said the four captured policemen, who the rebels consider “prisoners of war,” were “in good health … aside from the difficulties of guerrilla life” and assured their relatives they would be treated well.
She added that the NPA custodial force would submit a report on the four “as soon as circumstances permit.”
Nevertheless, she said the policemen would be investigated for what the rebels call “crimes against the people” and the revolutionary movement to determine whether they would be released or undergo trial by a “people’s court.”
To hasten the process, she urged the families of the captives and local government officials to call on the military to cease offensive operations in Surigao del Norte and the eastern part of Agusan del Norte.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/91166/northern-mindanao-rebels-hold-4-cops-captive
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