Fernandez lucky to be captured

From the Visayan Daily Star (Apr 9, 2019): Fernandez lucky to be captured

Rebel priest Frank Fernandez, secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros, is lucky to have been captured, Brig. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said yesterday.

Arevalo, who met face-to-face with Fernandez and his wife and deputy, Cleofe Lagtapon, at the Army General Hospital on Saturday, said the couple is better off now, as Army doctors and nurses are taking care of them, compared to their lives in the mountains where they were always on the run and hiding from the authorities..

Fernandez, 71, and Lagtapon, 66, who had been hiding from the authorties for more than 40 years, were captured by the police and military intelligence operatives on March 24 in Liliw, Laguna,

Arevalo said Lagtapon, who is suffering from depression, was attended by a psychologist at the Army hospital, where soldiers injured in gunbattle are also being treated.

He said he observed that Fernandez and Lagtapon drew strength from each other, and staying together gave them strength.

If this is how the Army and the government treat the NPA leaders like Fernandez and Lagtapon, how much more the regular NPA members who are only being fooled and used by their leaders and political officers? Arevalo said.

He also revealed that Fernandez, whom he had been hunting in southern Negros since he was a lieutenant in the early 1990s, was trying to engage him in a debate.

But Arevalo said he told Fernandez that he does not want to debate with him, stressing that he wants to check his status, and to relay to the people of Negros that he is being cared for by the Philippine Army.

When told of the killings perpetrated by his comrades in Negros, while he was still in hiding, Arevalo said Fernandez requested him for a list of those killed.

Apparently, Fernandez was not aware of it, he added.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/April/09/topstory6.htm