DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 2, 2013) – Communist rebels on Tuesday freed a policeman they held for two weeks following appeals by his family and peace advocates in the southern Philippines.
New People’s Army rebels released Police Officer 3 Ruben Magno Nojapa, Jr., to Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in Compostela Valley province where the officer was captured at a checkpoint on March 18.
Duterte fetched the policeman and handed him over to the regional police.
The National Democratic Front, the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, ordered the NPA to free Nojapa.
“The release decision was based on purely humanitarian grounds in the wake of the appeal made by Nojapa’s family and peace advocates that have expressed support for a negotiated settlement within the bounds of international humanitarian law,” said Rubi del Mundo, a spokesperson for the NPA.
Del Mundo said the policeman was also investigated by a rebel court and found no reason to hold him.
“After Nojapa’s capture, he was investigated by the responsible organ of the NPA custodial force and no sufficient evidence was established to warrant his prosecution for serious crimes committed against the Filipino people and the revolutionary movement,” Del Mundo said.
“The prisoner’s order of release is an exercise of the political power and authority of the People’s Democratic Government. It is in compliance with the NDFP’s long-standing policy of lenient treatment of prisoners of war and its Declaration of Undertaking to Apply the Provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Protocol I and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.”
The NPA has been fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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