Captive soldier seen in NPA offensives?

LEGAZPI CITY — An Army major held captive by the New People’s Army (NPA) since 1998, has been sighted joining the guerrillas in offensives and other tactical activities in Southern Tagalog, intelligence sources here claimed yesterday.

An intelligence officer, citing reports from government "assets," said Maj. Noel Buan was first seen in the company of heavily armed rebels who raided a police detachment in Quezon a year after his abduction.

"When government assets saw him several times in the company of rebels in the hinterlands of Southern Tagalog, he appeared to be already a ‘won-over soldier’ than a captive," the source said.

The source quoted a relative of Buan as having once said that the captive soldier harbored ill-will against the Estrada government for being "indifferent" in negotiating for his and police Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin’s release.

Martin died from injuries he sustained during a gunbattle between his rebel-captors and Army Scout Rangers in General Nakar, Quezon last Thursday.

Martin’s death prompted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to declare a 30-day truce with the rebels in Southern Tagalog, apparently to pave the way for Buan’s release.

Mrs. Arroyo has made peace initiatives with the communist and Moro separatist groups.