No contact yet with NPA captors of Surigao mayor

CAMP RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ, Butuan City, Philippines – Authorities have not yet established contact with the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who seized the mayor of Lingig, Surigao del Sur and his two military bodyguards Saturday.

“No update yet, they (NPA rebels) are still on the run and (there) is no contact (with them) so far,” Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal, Caraga police director, said yesterday.

Maj. Gen. Victor Felix, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said joint police and military operatives were still hunting down the NPA rebels behind the kidnapping of Lingig Mayor Henry Dano and his two security personnel.

However, two soldiers were killed and four others, including a militiaman, were wounded when NPA rebels waylaid them and detonated a landmine in Lingig town two hours after the kidnapping. 

At least 30 fully armed men onboard three vehicles arrived at the house of Dano in Barangay Lawan, Lingig town Saturday morning, with one of them, wearing a barong tagalog, knocking on the gate and introducing himself as a National Bureau of Investigation agent.

The armed men disarmed Dano’s bodyguards, and then seized two of them and the mayor. They fled toward Boston, Davao Oriental.

The two seized soldiers were identified as Pfc. Roland Saban and Cpl. Alrey Desamparado.

The Surigao del Sur provincial government has formed a crisis management committee headed by Gov. Johnny Pimentel to oversee the kidnapping case.

The military yesterday condemned the kidnapping, saying it constituted a violation of human rights.

Brig. Gen. Eduardo del Rosario, Armed Forces’ Civil Relations Service chief, said the NPA should stop conducting operations against non-combatants.

“Kidnapping is criminal act. They (NPA) should release the mayor. They should stop targeting civilians, especially local officials,” he said. – With Alexis Romero