Church leaders appeal to military, NPA to meet halfway to hasten release of captured cops, troops

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 15): Church leaders appeal to military, NPA to meet halfway to hasten release of captured cops, troops

Church leaders on Friday appealed to both the military and the New People’s Army (NPA) to meet halfway in order to expedite the release of the captured military and police personnel.

The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), a body composed of interfaith church leaders who act as the third party facilitators, has expressed optimism that the NPA and the military and police would arrive at a compromise for the speedy release of the captured government law enforcers.

Bishop Felixberto Calang,of the Iglesia Filipino Independiente (IFI) and PEPP co-convener, said they are optimistic that the parties involved would take into consideration each other’s proposals so the third-party facilitators could begin working on negotiating for the release of the captives.

Calang said PEPP is confident that the parties could reach an agreement on the turnover eventually as this is not the first time that the NPA has taken police officers and soldiers as prisoners.

Members of the PEPP conveners are Roman Catholic Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, Bishop Melzar Labuntog, United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), and Bishop Genesis Udang, of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC).

In an earlier statement released to the local media, the NPA wanted the police and the military to stop combat operations before considering a negotiation to free the captives.

The police and military, however, maintained that it is not in the level of the regional or provincial military and police command to order a stop on military and police operations.

Senior Police Officer 1 Warren Coñales, Police Officer 3 Edwin Castor, Senior Police Officer 4 Rene Rombo, Privates First Class Glenn Austia and Diven Abion Tawide were captured by the NPA who set up the simultaneous road block in various parts of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon and Agusan Del Norte last April 3.

Coñales and Castor were taken by the rebels in Capitan Bayong, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon; Rombo in Mandahilag, Talisayan, Misamis Oriental. Austia and Tawide, both belonging to the Philippine Army’s 23rd Infantry Battalion, were captured in Purok 3, Lower Olave, Buenavista, Agusan Del Norte.

Allan Juanito, spokesperson of the NPA North Central Mindanao Committee, said that the police and the military personnel are now in the custody of the NPA as “prisoners of war” (POW).

He said that as a POW, the police and the military are accorded the courtesy and treatment under the Geneva Convention on protocols accorded to the POWs.

Juanito, however, warned that the continued pursuit operations of the military and the police directed to rescue the captives might undermine the personal safety of the POWs as the NPA moved from one place to another.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=876840