DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 2, 2014) – Philippine rebels have freed Monday afternoon 5 people they seized in the southern province of Compostela Valley, security officials said.
Captain Alberto Caber, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the forestry surveyors were handed over to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the village of Panangan-Sangab in the town of Maco, near where communist rebels captured them.
“They were released safely through the efforts of Mayor Duterte,” Caber said without further elaborating.
The New People’s Army rebels earlier said the five men, Ken Wong, Chrisandro Favela, Tim Sabino, Nico Lasaca, all working for the private Skyeye UAV Services (Skyeye, Inc.) based in Quezon City, and their driver Jonas Loredo, would only be freed if the company stops all its surveillance and intelligence activities in areas where NPA rebels are actively operating. It was unknown if the company have agreed to the rebel demand.
The group was captured May 30 in the village of New Leyte in Maco town after they had been caught flying drones to survey the town.
The Eastern Mindanao Command earlier said rebels snatched six surveyors – Kendrik Wong, Nico Lasaca, Chris Favila, Matthew Cua, Jonas Loredo and Tim Sabina.
Daniel Ibarra, a spokesman for the NPA, said the 5 men were arrested in “culpable violation of the policy of the People’s Democratic Government for bringing in of surveillance gadgets, for undertaking reconnaissance of base guerrillas of the New People’s Army and, thus, abetting the enemy’s counter-revolutionary campaign against the revolutionary forces and environmental plunder.”
Ibarra said they also seized one Sky Surfer drone and two units of multirotor drones, including two laptops and a GPS navigation equipment from the men, who arrived in Maco town on May 28. He said the men admitted that they were hired by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to conduct an aerial survey and mapping in Maco for the government’s reforestation program.
There was no immediate statement from Skyeye UAV Services owned by Matthew Cua and Carlos Ezekiel.
The NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been fighting for decades for the establishment of a separate state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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