DAVAO CITY – The New People’s Army rebels released Sunday the 32 people they were reported to have taken hostage the night before in Sitio Cabuga, Barangay Sta. Teresa, Loreto, Agusan del Sur.
According to the Army 1001st Infantry Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Carlos Holganza the band of 50 NPA rebels, led by a certain Ka Nolan of Front Committee 34, did not only take hostage Rouel and Nimfa Magadan, the son and daughter-in-law of Loreto Mayor Romeo Magadan Jr., but also 30 other commuters who passed by the said barangay.
The rebels were reportedly conducting a checkpoint at Sitio Cabagu Saturday afternoon when they took the commuters hostage. The Magadans were said to have been on board a private van when they were also taken by the rebels.
“At first we thought the rebels only got the Magadan couple. But we found out that there were 30 other people they have prevented from leaving or passing through the area.
And they were only permitted to leave the following morning,” Holganza said. However, Holganza said that only sketchy reports reached them pertaining to the release of the captives, including the Magadan couple. The rebels reportedly demanded for two long firearms in exchange for the release of the hostages. “I do not even know if the demand for two firearms was met before they were released,” Holganza said.
Moreover, Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna said the military would not give in to the demand of the NPAs to suspend operations in certain areas in the neighboring provinces of Compostela Valley and Agusan del Sur to pave the way for the release of Army Sgt. Raul Reyes. “We will never give in to their demand,” he said.
“We will not suspend operations against them. Government will not do that. Besides, it is the duty of any soldier who is held captive to escape and for those remaining in the service to rescue the captive soldiers,” Luna said.
In a statement, Ka Aris Fransisco, spokesman of the Alejandro Lanaja Command, said that Reyes would only be released should the military declare a suspension of operations in the towns of Monkayo, Montevista, Laak and Nabunturan in Compostela Valley and the municipalities of Veruela, Sta. Josefa and Loreto in Agusan del Sur.
Reyes was abducted by NPA militants during a raid on an Army detachment in Barangay Canidkid on Oct. 7.
The rebels also snatched at that time Barangay Captain Glorieto Mahumas and militiaman Rudy Villaflor, who were eventually released on Oct. 14 after they were found to have committed no offenses against the rebel movement in the area. – Edith Regalado