Captive soldiers' kin ask AFP to pull out troops in Cotabato

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The families of the two soldiers who were held captive by the New People’s Army are asking the Armed Forces of the Philippines to pull out its troops to give way to negotiations that would possibly lead to the release of the victims.   

The Herminio Alfronso Command of the NPA’s Front 53 operations command likewise assured that Cpl. Delfin Sarocam and Pfc. Jayson Valenzuela shall be treated humanely.   

According to Isabel Santiago, spokesperson of the Alfronso Command, they have received a handwritten letter from the families of Sarocam and Valenzuela on April 29. Santiago said the families thanked the NPA for taking care of the two captives and at the same time they asked the AFP to pull out the troops so that the two would eventually be released through negotiation. Sarocam and Valenzuela were captured by communist guerrillas on April 14 while they were on their way to conduct community work in Sitio Dalinding in Barangay Datu Puas Inda in President Roxas town in North Cotabato. Santiago said the NPA custodial unit assured the families of Sarocam and Valenzuela that the NPA implements its policy of humane and lenient treatment of prisoners of war and fully enforces the NPA’s Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points of Attention.   

“Their rights as prisoners of war (POW) as provided in the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and international laws of war are respected,” Santiago said. She furthered that they convey to the captives’ families that time and again, it is the AFP that derails the processes that could lead to the possible early and safe release of the victims.   

“The AFP ignores the situation of their rank-and-file, the POWs in particular, and disregard the POW families’ pleas by conducting face-saving combat-rescue operations,” Santiago said. Santiago likewise stressed that the NPA understands the concerns of the POW’s families.   

“Even as the AFP officialdom is more concerned with face-saving moves, the NPA continues with the processes pertinent to the POWs while cognizant of their and their families’ desires,” Santiago further said.