Aglipayan priest kidnapped in Nueva Ecija

SAN JOSE CITY — Some 20 heavily armed men suspected to be communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels kidnapped Thursday a priest of the Aglipayan Church in Sitio Sanpugo, Barangay Kita-kita here.

Police reports identified the kidnapped priest as Fr. Dakila Lopez de Guzman, 46, of Ramos st. here.

De Guzman was reportedly watching television at his piggery in Sanpugo at around 10:30 p.m. when the armed men clad in camouflage uniform barged in.

The armed men reportedly demanded that De Guzman take out the gun and shabu he was supposedly hiding. The priest denied he was hiding the stuff.

De Guzman was handcuffed and dragged out of his house while the others searched the house for possible firearms. He was reportedly taken to the mountainous portion of Sitio Sanpugo.

De Guzman’s brother Katuwiran, 45, reported the abduction to the police which immediately dispatched a team to track the perpetrators down.

Senior Superintendent Raul Bacalzo, provincial police director, said police probers are still trying to find the motive for the kidnapping.

Police are looking into the possibility that armed rebels perpetrated the kidnapping.

But some concerned citizens also doubt the report, noting that if rebels were behind it, they would not have handcuffed the priest.

"The NPAs do not use handcuffs," a source said.

Meanwhile, forced disappearances and human rights violations continue, especially in the Southern Tagalog region, despite the resumption of the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF), the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP) claimed yesterday.

EMJP secretary-general Dani Beltran said "blatant violations" of human rights and international law take place although the peace panels have returned to the negotiating tables.

He claimed that five out of six victims of forced disappearances are committed in Southern Tagalog.

The EMJP recorded 769 cases of forced disappearances nationwide under the Marcos dictatorship from 1971 to 1986; 810 under former President Aquino from February 1986 to 1992; 19 under former President Ramos from 1992 to 1998 and 38 under ousted President Estrada in 1998 to January 2001. — With Sandy Araneta