NPA frees Army major

MANSALAY, Oriental Mindoro – The communist New People’s Army (NPA) released its last remaining hostage yesterday, paving the way for new peace talks with the government aimed at ending 30 years of insurgency.

The communist rebels, fighting a Marxist rebellion nationwide, turned over Army Maj. Noel Buan to a citizen’s group and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in this coastal town.

Buan limped slightly as he followed guerrillas belonging to the NPA’s Melito Glor Command down a mountainside into a waiting throng of onlookers that included his wife Cielo and 12-year-old daughter Jenina.

Hair grown well past his shoulders from 21 months in captivity, the smiling intelligence officer embraced his sobbing wife and daughter, while nearby rebels sang re-volutionary songs and clapped in rhythm as Justice Secretary Hernando Perez stood by to greet Buan.

"I probably shouldn’t talk anymore because you know the emotions," Buan told reporters in a brief statement.

"This is long overdue," Buan’s wife said shortly before the reunion. "I’ve always kept the house clean and stored simple food and drinks in the house for him."

Buan’s release is meant to improve the atmosphere for formal peace talks between the communist umbrella group National Democratic Front (NDF) and the government, scheduled to start April 27 in a still unidentified Scandinavian country.

NPA spokesman Rogelio "Ka Roger" Rosal told reporters that the release of Buan was their way of showing the government their sincerity in seeking peace.

"This is a very, very positive step," National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said as the teams prepared for Buan’s handover. "We are on the eve of the start of the peace talks. This will add to the confidence-building measures so the two panels can talk well with each other."

At Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Renato Corona said President Arroyo was grateful to the rebels for Buan’s release.

"At this point we can’t ask for anything more. The NPA has been showing a lot of goodwill and willingness to prove its sincerity," he said.

To facilitate the release, Mrs. Arroyo declared a limited ceasefire and confined special military forces to their barracks in the area. The rebels also declared a ceasefire in this province and nearby areas.

Another NPA hostage, police Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin, was hit by a stray bullet in an apparent chance encounter between rebels and government troops last March 8. He allegedly bled to death in the jungles of Quezon province as bad weather prevented his evacuation by helicopter.

The rebels had earlier announced plans to release Buan with Martin, who had been hostage since November 1999.

After preliminary talks early last month, the NDF and the government peace panel announced they would resume talks in a "mutually acceptable foreign neutral venue."

Rebel negotiators wanted the venue close to the Netherlands, where they live in exile.

The rebels pulled out of peace talks under former President Joseph Estrada nearly two years ago after the Senate approved the Visiting Forces Agreement which would allow the resumption of large-scale military exercises between the Philippines and the US in the country.

Military intelligence officials say the NPA has some 11,000 members that operate in small groups nationwide.

Path to peace

Sen. Loren Legarda, who spearheaded the citizen’s group that negotiated for Buan’s release, said the NPA’s act of freeing Buan was a "small gesture of human kindness" that leads the path to peace.

"With this small gesture, a positive environment has been created in our quest for national peace and stability," she said.

However, another lawmaker, re-electionist Sen. Gregorio Honasan, warned the government against breaking a peace accord former President Estrada made with a separate rebel group.

A former military man, Honasan said the government should stand by its commitment to the peace pact it entered with the Revolutionary Proletariat Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) if it does not want to see another disturbance of peace, especially in the countryside.

"Let us not scuttle the peace now being enjoyed by rural folks. It took a long time for the government to convince the insurgent group to join the fold of law. Now that they are with us, let us preserve this peace," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo ordered earlier this week Gen. Eduardo Ermita, her adviser on the peace process, to review the peace pact Estrada made with the RPA-ABB.

The pact, she said, had questionable provisions. She pointed out that under the pact, RPA-ABB members are allowed to freely carry firearms without getting arrested.

Honasan said the review of the peace pact should merely fine-tune the agreement and not cancel it. And he said it would be best to involve members of the rebel group in reviewing the pact.

"I find it very ironic that while the Arroyo administration is strongly pushing for an all-out peace policy in dealing with rebel groups, it appears now that it wants to disturb the peace the government has offered with the RPA-ABB," he said. – With reports from Jaime Laude, Marichu Villanueva