PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

AFP "rescue operations" are foolish and detrimental to POWs
March 20, 2004

There is no other way to ensure the safety and orderly release of prisoners of war held by the New People's Army except through proper negotiations.

This has been proven true in all cases in the past, as in those of Gen. Victor Obillo, Col. Noel Buan and Maj. Roberto Bernal.

Much as it has always wanted to, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has never been successful in forcibly extricating POWs from the New People's Army.

The recklessness and foolishness of attempting to extricate POWs through "rescue operations" has been tragically shown by the botched "rescue" of Philippine National Police Supt. Abelardo Martin. POW Martin was treacherously killed by bullets fired by his supposed rescuers from the AFP in a coastal barangay of Nakar, Quezon in March 2001. The "rescue operations" were done in bad faith as the NPA was already preparing to release him after the progress of initial negotiations with third parties for his release and pending the AFP's suspension of military operations in the area.

Such indifference to the plight of its own footsoldiers to the point of treachery is repeating itself in the present case involving POWs Lt. Ronald Fedelino and Pfc. Ronel Leme�o. The two POWs are currently being held by the Romulo Jallores Command of the New People's Army in Camarines Sur.

The AFP leadership's statements adamantly opposing negotiations and the suspension of military operations in the area show total irresponsibility, arrogance and indifference. Its insistence on carrying out "rescue operations" imperils the lives of the POWs, does not in any way serve the interests of Lieutenant Fedelino and Private Lemeno and utterly disregards the anxieties of their families.

In 2001, POW Martin was sacrificed by the AFP in its adamance against the suspension of military operations and its insistence on their own forcible "rescue" of Martin. Are they about to do the same to POWs Fedelino and Leme�o?

The government and the AFP are expected by the soldiers and their relatives to show a modicum of concern for the life and safety its own forces being held as POWs. Failing to do so, the government can only expect more and more of its soldiers and junior officers to become demoralized, turn their backs on the AFP, return to civilian life, stage more protest actions and mutinies or join the revolutionary movement.

The Communist Party of the Phuilippines (CPP) and the NPA, through the National Democratic Front (NDF), have declared their accession and have bound themselves to the Geneva conventions and protocols regarding international humanitarian laws and rules of war, including the August 12, 1949 convention on the treatment of POWs. It is actually in the interest of enemy forces captured by the NPA that they be declared POWs as they would then be accorded rights which they would otherwise not enjoy.

The NPA's very act of declaring and properly treating its captives as POWs in compliance with international humanitarian laws and rules of war as well as its own policies and rules, contradict the "terrorist" label the US and the puppet government have been trying to pin on the NPA. It is in stark contrast to the terrorist acts of the AFP, such as the ill treatment, torture and murder of its captives, as well as to the bigger terrorist acts of the world's number one terrorist�the US.

Through negotitions, the Philippine government and the NDF, representing the CPP and NPA, can agree on terms to ensure the safe and orderly release of POWs Fedelino and Leme�o.

The NPA assumes the responsibility of releasing the POWs in a formal and orderly manner. It absolutely requires that the AFP cease its military operations in the area. It also requires that the release be done in the presence of neutral third parties who would serve to witness the whole process and attest that provisions of relevant conventions have been followed on the proper treatment of the POWs and the regarding proper conditions for their release.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



Back to top