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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Communist group frees captive Army sergeants
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- The New People's Army (NPA) handed over to Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy on Tuesday two Army sergeants whom they have kept captive for two weeks.
In a statement sent to Sun.Star, NPA's Merardo Arce Command-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command (MAC-SMROC) said they ordered the release of Sergeant Napoleon P. Gerasmio of the Army Reserve and Sergeant Huberto C. Corbita of the Special Operations Command after 12 days in captivity as prisoners of war (POWs).
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The Conrado Heredia Command-Front 20 Operations Command of the NPA held Gerasmio and Huberto as POWs.
The release was made at Sitio Salvacion, Barangay Ngan, Compostela town around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The governor said he earlier appealed to the rebels to release the two soldiers for humanitarian reasons, which the rebels finally granted Tuesday without asking for anything in return.
The rebels said that aside from humanitarian reasons, the release was made as a "unilateral act of the revolutionary political authority over the POWs."
"We have given due consideration to the appeals made by their respective families and those that emanated from well-meaning friends in the various sectors, including those from local government units (LGUs)," the rebel statement said.
The rebels said the "arrest" of the two was a legitimate military action by the NPA.
"Despite the mouthful of desperate distortions spewed by the 10th ID-AFP (Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines) officers, (the military) cannot do away with the fact that International Humanitarian Law clearly extends a blanket of legitimacy to such actions. The AFP officialdom is ignorant of Protocol II of the Geneva Convention that defines as legitimate targets all members of the Armed Forces of warring parties in an armed conflict, except their medical personnel and religious chaplains. That the two POWs are armed and active in the overall conduct of their military functions that form a direct and integral part of the AFP's counter revolutionary war is an incontrovertible fact. Hence, the deafening silence by these AFP mouthpieces on this matter is conspicuously suspected," stated the rebels.
The two soldiers were separately arrested at a checkpoint set up by the rebels on April 24 at Sitio Mabatas, Barangay Upper Ulip, Monkayo, Compostela Valley Province.
The military praised the local government of Compostela Valley for facilitating the release of the two sergeants. Their being thankful for the release of the two non-commissioned officers does not mean, however, that they will tone down their offensives against the rebels.
"The command will not stop going after these bandits; on the other hand, the command appreciates the efforts of the local government executives who facilitated the release of the soldiers," Lieutenant Colonel Rolando Bautista of the 10th Infantry Division said in an interview Tuesday. (With CPM/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (May 7, 2008 issue)
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