NPA successfully effects POWs� safe and orderly release
The Romulo Jallores Command (RJC) of the New People's Army (NPA) in Bicol successfully effected the safe and orderly release of prisoners of war (POWs) Lt. Ronaldo Fidelino and Pfc. Ronnel Neme�o on August 18 in Presentacion, Camarines Sur.
The order for the POWs' release was signed by National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel chair, Comrade Luis Jalandoni.
The release process was agreed upon by the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and the NDFP negotiating panels. Through negotiations, the GRP likewise agreed to order the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to enforce a suspension of offensive military and police operations (SOMO/SOPO) in the provinces of Albay and Camarines Sur.
The SOMO/SOPO is a requisite for the safe and orderly release of POWs. The GRP formally announced the order for the SOMO/SOPO on August 16 through Rolando Andaya Jr. who served as the regime's official negotiator.
Fidelino and Neme�o would have been released much sooner had it not been for the AFP and PNP's intransigence. In fact, three days after their capture, the NPA had already expressed its readiness to have them released.
It was as early as April 2 when the NDF first received a formal letter from the GRP negotiating panel requesting the release of the two captives. The matter was tabled at the second round of the peace negotiations in April 2004 in Oslo, Norway. The GRP agreed at that time to implement a SOMO/SOPO in Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon, but requested that the order be withheld from the public.
The GRP never implemented its own SOMO/SOPO then. Neither did it offer any explanation for its inaction. By June, the GRP once again brought up the matter of releasing the POWs in the negotiations. Again, it requested that the declaration be withheld from the media.
The GRP formally provided the NDFP with a copy of an internal memorandum signed by Lt. Gen Edgardo Batenga, Undersecretary for Armed Forces Operations of the Department of National Defense (DND). According to the memorandum dated July 28, Arroyo approved a 20-day SOMO/SOPO to commence July 27, covering the provinces of Albay and Camarines Sur. Batenga was emphatic that the AFP would not admit to agreeing to the SOMO and the release of the captives.
But the AFP's military operations continued, contrary to the ordered SOMO/SOPO. Military spokespersons stubbornly denied that they had ever declared a suspension of offensive operations. The RJC received reports that since July 27, AFP operations have been ongoing in Oas, Albay, in Lupi, Camarines Sur and in other areas.
The AFP and PNP insisted on "saving" the POWs through their detrimental "rescue operations." Residents of Camarines Sur suffered tremendously at the hands of the 42nd IB, which perpetrated a great number of heinous killings, illegal arrests, detention and torture, theft, rape and molestation of women. The AFP must pay for the grave harm it has wrought on the people of Tinambac, Camarines Sur and neighboring towns.
Due to the AFP and PNP's failure to implement the SOMO/SOPO order, the NPA-RJC was forced to cancel the scheduled release on August 7.
During renewed negotiations in the second week of August, the NDFP insisted this time that it was necessary to publicize the SOMO/SOPO declaration to ensure its implementation. The GRP and the AFP-PNP agreed, but only after the order's existence had been exposed in the media and due to intense pressure from various sectors for the safe and orderly release of the two captives.
As a reciprocal measure, the NDFP has ordered the NPA in Bicol to halt and refrain from any military offensives against the AFP and PNP in the same provinces. The order is expected to stay in effect until August 25, seven days after the POWs' release.
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