Army lags freeing 2 captive soldiers

From the Sun Star-Cagayan de Oro (Oct 30): Army lags freeing 2 captive soldiers

IRONING out the two key issues that concerned parties need to resolve to free the two soldiers held captive by the New People’s Army (NPA) for two months now is vital to hasten the release.
 
But the imminent freedom of Private First Class Marnel Cinches and Private First Class Jerrel Yorong depends highly on the period of the implementation of the suspension of military operations (Somo) and the areas that will be covered under this, said Bishop Felixberto Calang, of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI).

“The green-light of the Somo by the Department of National Defense (DND) through the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is a welcome development,” said Calang, who is a member of the local religious group that is working for the soldiers’ release.

Calang is a member of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (Pepp), co-chaired by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro.

But Calang said the obstacles to freeing the soldiers are the number of days of the Somo needed to facilitate the captives’ release and the presence of the soldiers in areas where the rebels demand a pullout to ensure the security of everyone involved.

Appeal of facilitators

He added the military is adamant on enforcing a three-day Somo, the standard number of days in which the government soldiers cease its operations.

The NPA, on the other hand, is now amenable to a five-day temporary cessation of combat movements from its proposed 10 days.

Calang said both the NPA and the military must meet halfway for the release to finally happen.

“Mao ‘nang appeal sa local third party facilitators, mag-adjust and both parties (NPA and military) for reasonable and practical measures for safety of all involved, especially the captive soldiers,” he said.

Moral responsibility

He added, “It is the moral responsibility of the religious leaders [who are acting as peace negotiators] to ensure safe and orderly release.”

Calang said their other concern is the military’s insistence of not pulling out its troops on the ground and for them to stay put in areas where the release is set to take place during the Somo.

He said this would pose a risk for the NPA’s “custodial force,” the team that would escort Cinches and Yorong to the agreed venue for the turnover, since there is a possibility they could engage in an armed encounter with soldiers who will be on the ground by that time.

Calang said the third-party peace negotiators could be blamed if anything will happen to anyone, whether rebels or soldiers, during the transport of the captives.

He said the negotiators only want a peaceful turnover and any possibility of bloodshed is out of the picture.

Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro tried to ask Major Christian Uy, the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID) spokesman, for comment, but he has not replied to the text message sent Wednesday.

Torched P20-M heavy equipment

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police in Northern Mindanao confirmed that the Maoist rebels are responsible of the torching of nine heavy equipment in Sitio Malolos in Barangay Sinuda in Kitaotao town in Bukidnon around 4 p.m. of October 27.

Police Superintendent Bernardo Mendoza, the new spokesperson of the Police Regional Office (PIO) in Northern Mindanao, told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro by phone Wednesday that the damage of the torching amounted to P20 million.

The heavy equipment were owned by Algon Engineering Construction whose office is based in Davao City and owned by a certain Alex Gonzales.

Torched were one prime-mover, cement mixer, backhoe, grader, boom truck, vibrator and scraper and two dump trucks.

The heavy equipment were used to repair and concretize the highways spanning Bukidnon and Davao.

“There were about a hundred of rebels from NPA Front Committees 53, 55, and 56 based in Bukidnon-Davao areas. The leaders haven’t been identified yet. They torched the equipment to get even with the government by delaying the projects such as the repair and construction of the Buk-Davao highway. Not only that they also deprived the workers their jobs,” Mendoza said.

He added that pursuit operations against the rebels are ongoing.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2014/10/30/army-lags-freeing-2-captive-soldiers-373810