DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 19, 2014) – Communist insurgents have released Monday a government soldier they captured in the southern Philippines after two weeks in captivity.
The soldier, Corporal Rogelio Rosales, a member of the 60th Infantry Battalion operating in Davao and Compostela Valley provinces, was captured on May 3 in the village of Florida in Kapalong town. He was handed over to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who helped in securing the freedom of the infantryman.
The Eastern Mindanao Command has confirmed the release of Rosales and said Duterte helped facilitate the soldier’s freedom.
“He was released through the effort of Davao City Mayor Duterte. Corporal Rosales is now at Camp Panacan Station Hospital for medical examination,” Captain Alberto Caber, an army spokesman, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Aris Francisco, a spokesman for the NPA, said illegal drugs were also seized from Rosales when he was captured in Davao del Norte. Francisco also accused the soldier of protecting logging operations in the province.
Last month, rebels also freed army Sergeant Jeric Curay, who was 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 also released to Duterte, who negotiated with the NPA for the soldier’s freedom.
The NPA has been fighting for decades now for the establishment of its own communist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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