(UPDATED) 'Kung kinakailangang pumasok sa kampo ng NPA, gagawin natin para masiguro lang na makukuha nating ligtas ang mga pulis na hawak nila,' says the DILG chief
Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II may find himself inside a New People’s Army camp on Tuesday, July 29, when he flies to Mindanao to personally “ensure the release” of 4 police personnel captured by the communist rebels.
In a statement,
Roxas said the specific details of the release were still being finalized by
negotiators from the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF).
But he said: “Kung
kinakailangang pumasok sa kampo ng NPA (New People's Army), gagawin natin para
masiguro lang na makukuha nating ligtas ang mga pulis na hawak nila ngayon.”
(If I need to go inside an NPA camp, I’ll do it just to make sure our police
will be saved.)
On July 10, the NPA attacked the Alegria Municipal Police Station in Surigao
del Norte, capturing 4 cops in the process. A few days later, the communist
rebels declared the 4 cops “prisoners of war.”
The police
personnel are: Police Officer 3 Vic Calubag Concon, PO1 Rey O’niel Morales, PO1
Joen Zabala, and PO1 Edito Roquino.
The 4 were captured
by the NPA while they were on their way to respond to assist the police
station.
Ceasefire
declared
The DILG earlier
announced that the NPA would release the 4 cops in exchange for a 5-day ceasefire in 6 Surigao del Norte towns. The group
originally wanted a 10-day ceasefire in Surigao City
and 14 Surigao del Norte municipalities.
Both the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the NDF announced the suspension of
military operations or a ceasefire in Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte.
Towns covered by
the 5-day ceasefire are:
Claver
Gigaquit
Bacuag
Placer
Tubod
Alegria
Kitcharao
Jabonga
“This ceasefire
order shall entail the temporary cessation of any military actions by concerned
NPA units against any unit or individual members of the APF-PNP-CAFGU in the
aforementioned areas,” said NDF in a statement.
In a separate
statement, the AFP said its personnel are not allowed to “conduct deliberate
offensive operations against the NPA except on movements or activities aimed to
support the civil authorities, government instrumentalities and other agencies
in promoting peace, development and humanitarian assistance programs.”
The NDF, however,
said that NPA units “maintain its active-defense mode… must not hesitate to
defend its own forces and the masses within the area where never a serious
breach occurs.” The ceasefire began noon of Sunday, July 27 and will end noon
of Friday, August 1.
All NPA units
were also ordered to “relocated to a relatively secure location” after the
ceasefire as preparation for “another wave of brutal attacks by enemy forces.”
The AFP,
meanwhile, said the NPA are responsible for around 20 cases kidnappings and
abductions in the Eastern Mindanao area.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/64641-alegria-roxas-npa
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