DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 19, 2013) – Two police officers being held captive by communist rebels have made a daring escape to freedom early Friday after one of them grabbed the rifle of their guard and shot him in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said PO1 Ronal Allan Munez and PO1 Nemuel Espana were seized by New People’s Army rebels in Agusan del Sur’s Loreto town. Details of their escape were not immediately available, but Jorge Madlos, a senior rebel leader accused the officers as behind extortion activities in the town.
Their escape came a day after the NPA freed 7 pro-government militias they also captured in separate operations in the provinces of Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur in Mindanao.
The NPA released prisoners-of-war Danny Sevillejo, 27, Evangeline Cabodbod,31, and Leonardo Sevillejo, 63, – who were captured on April 14 in the village of Santa Juana in Surigao del Sur’s Tagbina town.
And also Mario Lepanda, 36; Toloy Lepanda, 34; Rejoy Francisco, 23; and Janjan, a minor – who were arrested by rebels on April 15 at a checkpioint in the village of Don Alejandro in San Luis town in Agusan del Sur province.
The release of the militias – who all underwent separate investigations by the NPA – was attended by government officials and representatives from the religious sector and the media.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, ordered the release of the militias on humanitarian grounds.(Mindanao Examiner)
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