DAVAO CITY ,Philippines – Release them.
Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made this appeal yesterday to the leadership of the New People’s Army (NPA) regarding four personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) who were seized by insurgents in Bukidnon the other day while ferrying seven inmates from Ozamiz City to the Davao Penal Colony in Panabo, Davao del Norte.
“Release the four jail guards. They have not done anything wrong. They were just doing their job,” Duterte told the NPA guerrillas holding the four BJMP officers captive.
Duterte said he would personally initiate the negotiations for the release of the four captives.
Duterte has been responsible for the release of a number of NPA captives in the past.
An estimated 200 NPA rebels blocked the BJMP vehicle in Kitaotao, Bukidnon early Thursday morning and rescued an inmate, a certain Dennis Rodenas, who was charged with illegal possession of explosives.
In the process, the six other inmates were freed, too.
The seized jail guards were identified as Inspectors Murphy Todyog and Erico Llamasares, Senior Jail Officer 2 Rogelio Begontes, and Jail Officer 1 Rolando Bajuyo Jr. One of them reportedly just hitched a ride.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, the NPA’s Herminio Alfonso Command-Guerrilla Front 53 Operations Command owned up to the incident to rescue Rodenas.
Rodenas, the NPA command said, “like many Filipinos, is a victim of the unjust Philippine judicial system.”
It added that Rodenas was “arbitrarily convicted” on “patently false and fabricated charges” based on evidence “planted” by the military.
“He was being transported to the (Davao Penal Colony) to begin his unjust life sentence,” said rebel spokesman Isabel Santiago.
The NPA command also admitted taking with them the four BJMP officers for questioning and seizing 10 firearms – four Armalite rifles and six pistols.
Police and military teams are now pursuing the rebels holding the jail guards captive. – With John Unson