NPA wants prisoner swap for 4 jail officers

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The New People’s Army (NPA) wants a prisoner swap for the release of four officers of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology who it seized in Bukidnon last July 21.

In an interview with a radio station here, Bukidnon Vice Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri said an emissary of the Merardo Arce Command of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command conveyed that the rebels want six detained comrades freed in exchange for the four jail officers.

The NPA is holding captive Ozamiz City jail warden Inspector Erico Llamazares, Cagayan de Oro City jail warden Inspector Murphy Tudyog, Senior Jail Officer 2 Rogelio Begontes, and Jail Officer 1 Rolando Bajuyo.

Earlier, relatives of Tudyog, who hails from Baguio City, had sought the help of a radio station here, as they were worried about the jail officer’s condition.

Zubiri, however, said he was still waiting for the NPA to name its six detained members.

Zubiri gave assurance that negotiations with the NPA were ongoing, and that the four jail officers were in good condition and were being treated nicely by the insurgents.

In a statement, Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesman of the Merardo Arce Command, said “the basic rights (of the four) are respected and well-being (being ensured).” 

Sanchez said, “There is no question that the four are armed, active and regular officers of the armed counter-revolutionary and coercive apparatus of the reactionary government of the Republic of the Philippines.”