DAVAO CITY – Communist rebels have announced that they are holding a government soldier as a prisoner of war after capturing him in South Cotabato province in the Philippines’ restive region of Mindanao.
The New People’s Army has demanded the military to pull out its forces to allow the safe release of Pfc. Ken Subere, who was taken prisoner in April in T’boli town. His unit – the 27th Infantry Battalion – has declared him AWOL or absent without official leave barely a week after he disappeared while on an official mission in the province.
The rebels did not release any proof of life or photos of Subere, who is being held captive by an NPA unit in the province. Just recently, NPA rebels freed two jail guards Juan Salazar and Feliciano Polan whom they seized in Surigao del Sur province in April following appeals made by their families and humanitarian groups.
The two men, who were released on a hinterland village in San Miguel town, had been handed over to church and political leaders led by Bishop Nerio Odchimar and Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel.
They were captured after rebels ambushed their vehicle to free a prisoner, Jojean Alameda, who was falsely accused by the military as a member of the communist group. The military’s Eastern Mindanao Command insisted that Alameda is a bomb maker.
Last December, rebels also seized Compostela Valley provincial jail warden Jose Mervin Coquilla and investigated him for alleged corruption and human rights abuses. He was also freed on January 19 due to humanitarian reason.
Government peace talks with the NPA – which has been fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country – collapsed in 2004 after rebels accused then President Gloria Arroyo of reneging on several agreements, among them the release of all political prisoners and the removal of the terrorist tag on the Communist Party of the Philippines and its political wing, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and the NPA.
Manila also suspended the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees after the peace talks failed. (Mindanao Examiner)
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