AFP open to SOMO with rebs for 4 jail officers' release

MANILA, Philippines - The military is open to suspending its offensive operations against communist rebels who kidnapped four jail officials last July in Bukidnon if recommended by the local crisis committee.

Col. Leopoldo Galon, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), said they would follow the recommendations of the committee negotiating with the insurgents.

“The crisis management committee is in charge of the negotiation. We will just (help). If we are talking about a SOMO (suspension of offensive military operations), that is doable,” Galon said in an interview.

“We will abide by the decision of the crisis management committee as a result of their negotiation,” he added.

Galon said Eastmincom chief Lt. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero favors a SOMO that would not exceed three days and confined to a specific area.

“But this (SOMO) has not been discussed. There is no word yet from the crisis management committee,” he said.

Galon said such messages and developments should be relayed to the crisis committee and not through the media.

“The kidnappers should respect the existence of the crisis management committee in Bukidnon,” he said.

Last July 21, New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas snatched four officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Kitaotao, Bukidnon. The four were moving detainees from Ozamis City to the Davao Penal Colony when they were seized.

The victims were identified as 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.

Last Thursday, the National Democratic Front (NDF) said it is ready to release the four jail officials as a confidence-building measure for the peace talks. The NDF represents the NPA in the peace negotiations with the government.

NDF chairman Luis Jalandoni said they would issue a release order once the government declares a suspension of military and police offensive operations.

“We require that the SOMO and SOPO (suspension of offensive police operations) allow the necessary, reasonable and flexible scale of time and area for the safe and orderly release of the captives at the initiative of their NPA custodians,” Jalandoni said in a statement.

“It is the pertinent revolutionary organ in Mindanao that shall specify the specific area and time period for the SOMO and SOPO and other needed requirements to ensure the safe and orderly release of the four prisoners of war,” he added.

Talks between the government and the NDF were supposed to resume in Oslo, Norway in 2009. The talks, however, collapsed after the government rejected a demand to free alleged consultants of the NDF with pending criminal charges.

The peace negotiations between the government and the NDF are expected to resume this month.