DAVAO CITY – The communist rebel group New People’s Army said it is now holding two government soldiers as prisoners of war and bringing to 6 the number of security personnel being held captive in southern Philippines.
The NPA also owned up to a recent attack on a banana plantation run by the Japanese export firm the Sumitomo Fruits Corporation in southern Philippines.
The rebels are also holding three other policemen and two army soldiers who were captured in separate operations in southern Philippines – PO3 Democrito Polvorosa and PO1 Marichel Contemplo were seized on November 16 in Surigao del Norte province, and PO1 Junrie Amper in Surigao del Sur province. And Privates Marnel Cinches and Jerrel Yurong, who are members of the 8th Infantry Battalion, were taken captive in September in Bukidnon province.
Aris Francisco, a regional NPA spokesman, said the soldiers – Pfc. Alvin Ricarte and Cpl. Benjamin Enot Samano – are both working as guards for the company which is operating in Davao del Norte’s New Corella town.
He said the 23-year old Ricarte and Samao, 37, are members of the 60th Infantry Battalion. He accused the army unit as behind extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses that targeted tribesmen in the province.
“The company employed as its most trusted company guards the fascist personnel of the 60th Infantry Battalion. The rabidly anti-people Japanese firm continues to support the military operations of the 60th Infantry Battalion, the army unit that is responsible for the illegal logging, extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations of peasants and Lumads in Kapalong town and other parts of Davao del Norte. The Sumifru-60th Infantry Battalion tandem continues to heap criminal acts against the people, thus making it legitimate target of the NPA,” Francisco said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Rebels raided the plantation at dawn on December 2 and carted two M16 automatic rifles, a shotgun, four rifle grenades, one radio transceiver and ammunition.
Francisco also warned the military not to attempt to rescue the prisoners.
“For as long as guerrilla conditions warrant and notwithstanding enemy operations that imperil the safety of the two prisoners of war, the NPA custodial unit strictly observes the NPA’s Rules of Discipline and the International Humanitarian Law pertaining to captured enemy personnel,” he said.
He also said the attack on Sumifru was a punishment for allegedly violating the labor rights of its workers who have been complaining to the rebel group.
“The NPA punished the Japanese-owned banana exporter Sumifru for its gross violations of rights of its workers. The NPA received complaints from the workers and their families that the company has imposed 16-work hour shifts without overtime pay in padlocked, jail-like building. Arbitrary termination and suspension of workers without due cause are also rampant,” he said.
The rebels are also holding three other policemen and two army soldiers who were captured in separate operations in southern Philippines – PO3 Democrito Polvorosa and PO1 Marichel Contemplo were seized on November 16 in Surigao del Norte province, and PO1 Junrie Amper in Surigao del Sur province. And Privates Marnel Cinches and Jerrel Yurong, who are members of the 8th Infantry Battalion, were taken captive in September in Bukidnon province.
The military’s Eastern Mindanao Command and the 10th Infantry Division have not issued any statement since the rebel raid. The NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been waging separatist war for many decades now. (Mindanao Examiner)
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