DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 5, 2014) – Communist rebels have captured a government soldier who was accused of protecting logging operations in the southern Filipino province of Davao del Norte.
Aris Francisco, a spokesman for the New People’s Army, said illegal drugs were also seized from the soldier who was identified as Corporal Rogelio Rosales, a member of the 60th Infantry Battalion operating in Davao and Compostela Valley provinces.
He said Rosales, who has been declared a prisoner of war, was arrested in the village of Florida in Kapalong town while he was fixing the transit of logs in the area.
“Prisoner of War Rosales was on the process of arranging for the transit of logs when apprehended by the NPA. A sachet of shabu was also found in his possession, proof that soldiers who are coddling big loggers in the province, were also into the illegal drug trade,” Francisco said in a statement sent late Monday to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The arrest of Rosales came nearly two weeks after rebels freed another soldier Sergeant Jeric Curay, who was also captured at a checkpoint in the village of Andap in Compostela Valley’s Laak town on April 4.
Curay, a member of the 72nd Infantry Battalion, was released to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who negotiated with the rebels for the soldier’s freedom.
Francisco said the Rosales is part of a gang of soldiers under the 60th and 72nd Infantry Battalions protecting logging operations in the provinces.
“Thus, in the face of brazen abuse of power and wanton disregard of the environmental preservation, the NPA perseveres in imposing its total log ban campaign and carrying out punitive sanctions against the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the big logging lords.”
“To protect the remaining forest covers, campaign for reforestation, stop abusive large-scale logging, and secure the livelihood of the masses through sustainable communal farming, the NPA Sub-regional Command strongly enforces its total log ban policy,” Francisco said.
Just recently, three soldiers were also wounded in a rebel attack in the village of Napungas in Davao del Norte’s Asuncion town where they ambushed a military patrol.
The military’s Eastern Mindanao Command and the 10th Infantry Division which have operation control in the area did not give any statement about the arrest of the soldier and accusations against them.
The NPA has been fighting for decades now for the establishment of its own communist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
20