CPP/NPA-SM: NPA declares deputy police chief as POW, slams illegal arrest of farmers in North Cotabato

NPA-Southern Mindanao propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines Website (Jan 12): NPA declares deputy police chief as POW, slams illegal arrest of farmers in North Cotabato

Rigoberto F. Sanchez, Spokesperson
NPA-Southern Mindanao

12 January 2018

Red fighters under the Mt. Apo Sub-Regional Command arrested Police Inspector Menardo Nisperos Cui, PNP Badge No. 0-28281, on December 28, 2017 in Brgy. Poblacion, Pres. Roxas in North Cotabato and subsequently declared him NPA Prisoner of War.

The Regional Operations Command of the NPA in Southern Mindanao likewise condemns the illegal arrests of farmers Jarold Adiaton, Jean Solis and Datu Maylan Andas in Brgy. Balite and Brgy. Temporan in Magpet on January 9.

At 4:00 in the morning, the joint forces of 39th IB, 15th IB and PNP simultaneously conducted unlawful search of several civilian homes Brgy. Balite. Residents have reported missing possessions after soldiers stormed and rummaged their houses while some civilians were physically assaulted and held at gunpoint. The families of Adiaton and Solis said that the soldiers planted improvised explosives during their search as an excuse to arrest the two farmers. In desperation, the fascist AFP are falsely accusing Adiaton and Solis of being members of the NPA and interrogating them on the whereabouts of POW Cui.

POW Cui, 48, is the designated Deputy Police Chief of Pres. Roxas Municipal PNP. A 9mm pistol was seized from his possession during his arrest. He is currently being investigated for his counterinsurgency activities and possible crimes against the masses and the revolutionary movement. As a legitimate exercise of belligerent political authority on behalf of the People’s Democratic Government, the NPA is tasked to arrest, detain and investigate personnel of the reactionary armed forces who are actively engaged in the armed conflict.

POW Cui, as with other previous prisoners of war, is being given political education that includes short courses on the history and problems of Philippine society and the need for people’s war while under the custody of the NPA. Under guerilla conditions, he is treated with leniency and provided with all basic needs in accordance to NPA rules of discipline, the CARHRIHL and other international conventions.

In a video released by the NPA-SMROC, POW Cui shared his experience regarding the commendable treatment of his custodial force. He also reflected on the people’s war, the need for armed struggle, and why the counterinsurgency campaign Oplan Kapayapaan is bound to fail in the face of the people’s contempt of the Duterte regime, especially the Armed Forces of the Philippines. POW Cui appealed to Pres. Duterte to resume talks with the NDFP and for the AFP to suspend military operations to make way for his safe release. He also assured his family of being treated well by the NPA.

Meanwhile, under the auspices of martial law, AFP and PNP troops in North Cotabato are presently going berserk in launching combat and pursuit operations in the towns of Arakan and Magpet, leaving a trail of human rights violations against civilian farmers and Lumad in their wake. Fresh from rampaging Marawi, the newly-deployed soldiers of 15th IB, along with the 39th IB and paramilitary Bagani, are terrorizing civilians in the hinterlands of the two towns.

The mettle of discipline that the NPA demonstrates with regards to its prisoners of war stands in stark contrast to the reactionary armed forces’ deplorable treatment of political prisoners languishing in various jails around the country. The abject conditions which these political prisoners are being made to suffer, notwithstanding the fabricated charges that supposedly led to their arrests, bear witness to the state of injustice that continues to victimize the Filipino people, especially under the fascist US-Duterte regime.

The NPA in the region calls on all peace advocates and human rights defenders to join the demand for the unconditional and immediate release of the three farmers in Magpet and all political prisoners in the country.

https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20180112-npa-declares-deputy-police-chief-as-pow-slams-illegal-arrest-of-farmers-in-north-cotabato