Image grabbed from News5 video of PFC Adonis Jess Lupiba, the soldier held captive by the NPA after a raid in Gingoog City
The peace negotiation panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines has endorsed talks for the release of a soldier captured by the New People’s Army during a July 11 raid on Army troops in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental.
At the same time, Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the rebel panel, urged the military and police to declare a suspension of operations, to be followed by an NPA ceasefire declaration, to pave the way for the release of Private First Class Adonis Jess Lupiba.
Jalandoni called the willingness of the NPA’s North Central Mindanao Regional Command and the NDFP chapter in the region to “forego normal processes of investigation and the revolutionary judicial process” on Lupiba to speed up his release “a gesture of goodwill … to show the revolutionary movement’s sincerity in seeking the resumption of peace talks with the Aquino government.”
On the other hand, he said, the declaration of a suspension of military operations, or SOMO, would be “a test for the new AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) head, Lieutenant General Hernando Iriberri, who just declared that he supports the resumption of peace negotiations,” as he urged new PNP Director General Ricardo Marquez to issue a similar order suspending police operations.
Lupiba was captured during an NPA attack on troops of the 58th Infantry Battalion stationed in Barangay Alagatan, Gingoog after he chose to surrender to avoid endangering civilians caught in the middle of the fighting.
Residents of Alagatan have called Lupiba a “hero” for this and the NPA has also commended the soldier for his “professionalism” even as it scored military officials for ordering their troops to station themselves in civilian communities.
Jalandoni said the peace panel’s endorsement of Lupiba’s release was also “in response to the appeal of the wife and parents” of the captive soldier “and the call of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform” led by Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente or Aglipayan church.
Hopes for the resumption of the stalled peace negotiations with the communists were revived earlier this month when Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and three other leaders of the House of Representatives met with Jose Ma. Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Jalandoni and NDF secretariat head Ruth Zumel in The Netherlands.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/114698/ndf-peace-panel-oks-talks-to-free-soldier-held-by-mindanao-rebels
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