3 cops freed by NPAs still under debriefing

MANILA, Philippines - Three Rizal policemen who were released last Friday by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Rodriguez town after 83 days in captivity continue to undergo debriefing at the Calabarzon police headquarters and have expressed great interest in returning to their police unit.

Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad, Calabarzon police director, said he gave his men at least one week more for the debriefing of Inspector Rex Cuntapay and PO1s Alberto Umali and Marvin Agasen.

After the debriefing, the Calabarzon police would launch tactical offensives against the NPA guerrillas, and the three policemen might join the police teams.

The insurgents took the three policemen hostage during an encounter near the controversial landfill in Rodriguez town last Jan. 3. A policeman was killed while another was wounded in the clash.

Cuntapay sustained shrapnel wounds on the back, and Agasen on the right arm. Their wounds slowly healed while they were in NPA custody.

Initial results of the debriefing showed that at least 10 of the NPA rebels who ambushed Cuntapay’s team from the 418th Provincial Mobile Group were women.

According to Palad, the three policemen were blindfolded and handcuffed and were ordered by their captors to walk for 16 days, after which their blindfolds were removed.

Their NPA captors later broke into several groups and at least 20 of them were left behind, with no women, to secure them.

“During their 83 days in captivity, sometime they ate a small ration of rice and mostly ubod ng saging, kawayan o niyog. Life is very miserable for the NPA rebels in the mountains,” Palad said.

At dusk, he said the three policemen were separated from each other so they could not converse and plan their escape.

He said the rebels constantly reminded the three not to escape, adding that they did not harm the lawmen.

The three policemen noted that majority of their captors were armed with M-16 and M-14 Armalite rifles. “They spotted several M-14s but not a single M203 grenade launcher,” Palad said.

The three policemen recalled that they would start walking early in the morning and would stop only at sunset.

“They saw no other people during their captivity because they were walking in virgin forests. They had to sleep in makeshift beds and when rain fell they slept with their wet clothes or uniforms on,” Palad said.

Their military counterparts from the Southern Luzon Command under Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit put up checkpoint across the region to prevent the transport of food supplies for the policemen’s NPA captors.

The NPA rebels took a video footage and directed Cuntapay’s group to appeal for negotiations for their safe release, which appeared on YouTube last Feb. 9.

The three policemen were unaware of the negotiations spearheaded by former Rizal governor Casimiro Ynares Jr. until they were released to his custody last Friday, in the presence of their families and relatives, in Sitio Lubog, Barangay Puray.

Ynares turned over the three policemen to his son, incumbent Gov. Casimiro Ynares III, Sen. Jamby Madrigal and Antipolo City Archbishop Gabriel Reyes.

The three policemen were presented to the media at the Rizal provincial capitol in Antipolo City but reporters were barred from asking them questions.