Police ensure no hitches in Buan release

Police units on Mindoro island are, upon orders, avoiding unnecessary moves that may derail the scheduled release today of Army Maj. Noel Buan, whom the New People’s Army has held captive since 1999.

"Our men, if requested, will just be confined to providing route and area security to any government officials who will receive Maj. Buan from his rebel-captors," said Chief Superintendent Domingo Reyes, Southern Tagalog police director.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, through the NPA’s Lucio de Guzman Command based in Mindoro, has agreed to free Buan today somewhere in Calapan City, Mindoro Oriental.

Buan, an intelligence officer of the Southern Luzon Command based in Lucena City, Quezon, was seized by NPA rebels in the Bondoc Peninsula on July 9, 1999.

Buan’s fellow captive, Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin, was killed in what appeared to be a botched rescue operation in General Nakar, Quezon.

Meanwhile, sources in Bacolod City said National Democratic Front leaders Luis Jalandoni and Antonio Zumel are expected to arrive in the country on April 8.

The Arroyo government and the CPP-NDF-NPA have agreed to resume peace talks on April 27. — Jaime Laude, Antonieta Lopez