NPA captors urged to set cop free
In this Nov. 23, 2016 photo, a red ribbon is tied to a firearm of a New People's Army guerrilla at a rebel encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness of the Sierra Madre mountains. AP/Aaron Favila
KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines — The family of the policeman snatched here by communist rebels on August 14 has urged his captors to set him free.
PO1 Bristol Catalan was abducted by New People’s Army guerillas in Barangay Katipunan here while riding a motorcycle en route to Makilala town where he works as an intelligence agent of the municipal police office there.
Bristol’s wife, Jessa, told reporters on Saturday that their family relies only on his salary as a policeman for daily needs.
“He is the sole breadwinner in the family,” Jessa said.
Catalan’s two grade school children who witnessed how NPAs took him at gunpoint have dropped out of school.
“We need him in the family. His children need him,” Jessa said on Saturday.
Mayor Rudy Caoagdan of Makilala town in North Cotabato is still trying to establish contact with the group who took Catalan away to negotiate his release.
Caoagdan is the chairman of the municipal peace and order council in Makilala, where there are NPAs whose presence local residents detest.
Jessa said they have not received any word yet from the NPA, worsening their apprehensions on her husband’s safety.
The military earlier said the group that snatched Catalan belongs to the NPA’s Guerilla Front 53, feared for its ruthlessness on villagers who refuse to shell out “protection money” on a regular basis.
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