Arroyo regime takes hard stance on POWs
The AFP has recently unleashed relentless military operations in Tinambac, Camarines Sur and nearby towns in response to the NPA�s call to begin negotiations and to cease military operations to pave the way for the release of 1Lt. Ronaldo Fedelino and PFC Ronel Leme�o of the 42nd IB who were both captured by the NPA on March 1 during a tactical offensive in Tinambac.
Up to now, the Arroyo regime remains indifferent to the plight of the two soldiers. It has refused to negotiate with the NDFP peace panel to begin processing their release and has completely relinquished to the AFP the responsibility of defining policy regarding captives.
Despite pouring in an entire battalion in the area, the AFP has failed to determine the whereabouts of the two soldiers. The AFP has since been training its guns on unarmed civilians.
Six civilians have already been abducted since March 2, including Bayan Muna coordinators Isiderio de los Santos and Jaime Rodriguez. De los Santos has not been surfaced to date while the five others continue to be detained at the 42nd IB station in Barangay Mabalodbalod, Goa. Soldiers also molested a 14-year-old girl from Del Carmen, Lagonoy on March 3. On the same day, soldiers also stole and slaughtered three turkeys from Rodolfo Caganda, a councilor of Barangay Del Carmen. Many other civilians were beaten up, including Gilbert Quilingan, Anakpawis coordinator of Barangay Antipolo, Tinambac and other residents of Barangay lamon, Goa and Barangay Pinamihagan, Lagonoy.
Meanwhile, in Negros, the NPA released on March 15 Eduardo Raya, a CAFGU element captured in an attack on the 44th CAFGU Coy in Barangay Mahalang, Himamaylan on February 15. Although the people�s court found him guilty of having an NPA unit encircled and raided in 2002 in Himamaylan, he was released on humanitarian grounds. Raya was simply warned and ordered to compensate those that he had harmed.
The NPA turned him over to the custody of Bishop Vicente Navarra of the Diocese of Bacolod City.
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