DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2014) – A Philippine court has ordered the release of a former university professor who was allegedly captured by the military during a firefight with communist rebels in Cateel town in the southern province of Davao Oriental.
Professor Kim Gargar, who was captured in October 2013 in the village of Aliwagwag, walked away from his prison cell in Davao Oriental’s Baganga town after a court allowed him to post bail.
Gargar, who was fetched by friends and relatives, also called on the Aquino government to free all political prisoners languishing in jails across the country.
There was no immediate statement from the military on Gargar’s release, but the Eastern Mindanao Command has previously claimed that the professor helped write propaganda books for communist leader Jose Maria Sison aimed at exploiting villagers in the countryside.
It said Gargar allegedly admitted to military interrogators that he joined the New People’s Army in 2012 and said he was wounded in a clash with members of the 67th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Krishnamurti Mortela, who gave him first aid before bringing him to the Davao Oriental provincial hospital.
The Eastern Mindanao Command said Gargar was a former Physics professor at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City and also worked at the Don Mariano University in Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental province and in Polytechnic University and Mapua University, both in Manila. He was also doctorate scholar in University of Groningen in The Netherlands.
The NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been fighting for a separate state in the country.
Professor Kim Gargar walks out of prison in Davao Oriental province. (Photos courtesy of Kilab Multimedia)
http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/2014/08/ex-university-professor-captured-by.html
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