Spare bets, NPA urged
by Alfred Dalizon
People’s Journal – www.journal.com.ph
Thursday, May 06, 2010
COMMISSION on Human Rights chair Leila de Lima yesterday reiterated her appeal to communist rebels to stop collecting “permit-to-campaign” fees from candidates and for rogue politicians to stop employing partisan armed groups to terrorize voters.
“This should be a free, fair and genuine election and I am calling on the communist rebels to stop violating the rights of the candidates to campaign freely and the rights of the voters to know the candidates,” she said shortly after signing a memorandum of undertaking with Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus A. Verzosa allowing the CHR to join the PNP in monitoring possible human rights violations during the May 10 polls.
PNP Human Rights Affairs Office director Chief Supt. James Franklin Bucayy said the MOU will allow the CHR to field its personnel to different Joint Security Coordinating Centers to monitor human rights violation and recommend steps to address the problem. “The objective here precisely is to prevent human rights violations in the field,” De Lima said.
She said they have been monitoring pre-election human rights cases since December although lack of manpower and resources prompted them to partner closely with the PNP. “We’re acting as an independent monitor here.”
De Lima said they have recorded at least three incidents in Caraga region where rebels have stopped local candidates and disarmed their bodyguards for their failure to heed their demand for PTCs.
NPA rebels block highway, abduct mayor, police aides
By Al Jacinto
Manila Times – www.manilatimes.net
Thursday, May 6, 2010
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Philippine troops were sent Wednesday to rescue a town mayor and four of his security escorts abducted by communist rebels who blockaded a highway in Mindanao where security forces are battling insurgents, a military spokesman said.
The spokesman said more than two dozen New People’s Army (npa) rebels seized Mayor Roberto Luna Jr. of Lingig town in Agusan del Sur province and two soldiers and two policemen escorting him.
“The mayor and his escorts are being held hostage by the NPA. Troops are pursuing the rebels,” said Army Capt. Emmanuel Garcia, of the 10th Infantry Division.
Garcia said the rebels struck at about 6 a.m. after putting up a checkpoint near the boundary of Agusan del Sur and Compostela Valley provinces.
“We condemn and deplore this act of terrorism by the New People’s Army,” he said.
“We are awaiting progress report from our field commanders about the pursuit operation,” he added.
He said the 10th and the Fourth Infantry Divisions are involved in the rescue mission.
The motive of the attack was unknown, but the NPA earlier warned politicians campaigning for the May 10 general elections should pay so-called “campaign fees” in area where the rebels are actively operating.
The rebels have so far disarmed politicians and their bodyguards and torched their campaign vehicles the past weeks for their failure to pay the NPA.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which is waging a secessionist war for the past four decades now.
NPA abducts Agusan del Sur mayor, escorts
BY Victor Reyes
Malaya – www.malaya.com.ph
Thursday, May 06, 2010
NEW People’s Army rebels abducted a mayor and two soldiers and two policemen serving as his security escorts at the boundary of Agusan del Sur and Compostela Valley provinces yesterday morning.
Capt. Emmanuel Garcia, spokesman of the Army’s 10 Infantry Division, said Mayor Roberto Luna Jr. of Lingig town, Agusan del Sur, and his bodyguards were snatched as the mayor was en route to Davao City to visit his ailing child at a Davao City Doctors Hospital.
Luna is running for vice governor as he is finishing his three terms as mayor.
Garcia said about 30 rebels blocked Luna’s group who were aboard a Nissan Navara and Toyota Hi-Lux pickup in Pasian village in Monkayo town in Compostela.
Garcia said the communist rebels were led by one alias Daryl of the NPA’s Front Committee 20.
Garcia said residents overheard NPA spotters talking about the passage of the mayor’s group in the area where they were abducted.
Garcia said the two soldiers and the two policemen, whose identities were not immediately known, failed to put up a fight because there were only four of them as against the 30 NPAs.
The NPA’s Medardo Arce Command claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and said its men also confiscated from the mayor’s group five M16 rifles, two cal. 45 pistols, a 9 mm pistol and a cal. 380 pistol.
In a statement, Simon Santiago, of the Medardo Arce Command-Regional Political Department, said Luna was "arrested" at an NPA mobile checkpoint to face "investigations for numerous criminal, land grabbing and graft cases lodged before the local People’s Court."
Santiago said Luna is being investigated by the NPA for a number of killings, including the murder of Mayor Amerosin Onsing in 2001.
Rebels abduct 4 soldiers guarding bet for mayor
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Thursday, May 06, 2010
TAGUM CITY—NEW PEOPLE’S Army rebels abducted four government soldiers assigned as security escorts of a Caraga Region politician in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, on Wednesday, police said.
Senior Supt. Aaron Aquino, Compostela Valley police chief, said at least 30 rebels, led by a certain Commander Daryl, briefly occupied the national road bordering Compostela Valley and Agusan del Sur provinces, flagging vehicles and checking for motorists with firearms.
The group of Mayor Roberto Luna Jr. of Lingig, Surigao del Sur, riding in two vehicles, was among those held at the national highway in Barangay Pasian at 6 a.m., Aquino said.
He said the rebels disarmed two soldiers who were with the group. Two M-16 assault rifles were taken.
The rebels took them and two other policemen who were also serving as security escorts of Luna as they withdrew to the village interior, said Aquino.
The police official, however, could not say if it was really Luna who was the target of the rebel checkpoint or if the candidate just happened to pass by the area when the rebels set up the checkpoint.
Aquino said police have yet to determine the identities of the soldiers.
Soldiers from the Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion are now after the rebels.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines has warned of rebel attacks aimed at disrupting the elections.
The rebels were also accused of forcing candidates to pay so-called permit-to-campaign fees to allow them to enter guerrilla territory. Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao
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