After 11 days in captivity: NPA frees Sorsogon cop

SORSOGON CITY — Communist guerrillas in Sorsogon released a rookie policeman Thursday afternoon after keeping him as a "prisoner of war" for 11 days, authorities said.

The Celso Minges Command of the New People’s Army, which operates in Sorsogon and Albay, released PO1 Edwin Estavillo at about 2:30 p.m. in Barangay Balogo, about five kilometers from this city.

Meanwhile, at least eight NPA guerrillas were killed in clashes with government troops in the hinterlands of Northern Samar and Leyte, the military said.

Seven of the rebels were slain in a firefight with men of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division whom they had ambushed in a remote village at the boundary of Silvino Lobos and Matuguinao towns in Northern Samar.

The eighth rebel was killed in an encounter with soldiers of the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion in San Isidro, Leyte.

Church leaders in Sorsogon interceded after Estavillo’s mother pleaded to the rebels to release his son in a radio interview last week.

After his release, Estavillo was escorted by his wife and members of his family to the provincial police headquarters for debriefing.

Senior Superintendent Joel Regondola, provincial police director, said the NPA rebels were forced to release Estavillo after his men had launched an operation jointly with the members of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Benigno Antonio to rescue Estavillo dead or alive.

Heavily armed rebels led by a certain Ka Viray abducted Estavillo in Barangay San Antonio in Barcelona town last Nov. 12 while he was in a drinking bout with barangay councilman Noni Pedrosa and one Joseph Estañol during his visit to his mother’s house. The rebels took his M-16 service rifle.

Samuel Guerrero, spokesman of the NPA’s Celso Minges Command, said Estavillo was abducted after civilians had complained about his misconduct as a police officer.

"He would remain a ‘prisoner of war’ until he completes the disciplinary course being meted for an abusive policeman under the revolutionary movement," Guerrero said.

Estavillo, assigned to the Magallanes town police, was earlier reported to have caused trouble inside a videoke bar after he was refused alcoholic drinks. He was reportedly demoted to PO1 after he beat up somebody.

When he appealed for her son’s release last week, Estavillo’s mother Asuncion said she was not aware of any incident that his son had figured in that could have prompted the rebels to abduct him. — With Miriam Garcia Desacada