NPA member arrested, remain missing
By EDMUND B. SESTOSO
A member of the underground New People’s Army (NPA) believed to have been arrested by the members of the Philippine Army in Valencia town remain missing despite efforts of the family to locate him in several jails of the province.
Dom Pantaleon of the Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command of the New People’s Army based in Southeastern Negros identified their arrested member as Calixto “Ka Manong” Alfante, 46 years old and a native of Bohol province who was reportedly abducted last June 11 by elements of the 79th Infantry Batallion in Sitio Kabalanusan, Barangay Dobdob in Valencia town.
Pantaleon said that inspite of efforts by his family to locate Ka Manong at various municipal jails, the Tanjay City-based 302nd Infantry Brigade leadership has continued to “involuntary disappear” him for more than two weeks now.
Pantaleon in a statement sent to media outlets explain that the involuntary disappearance of the NPA fighter is in complete violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions governing combatants and hors’ d combat (or combatants deemed already protected by international humanitarian law by virtue of arrest or surrender).
Pantaleon said that reports reaching their command pointed out that witnesses to the incident said Ka Manong was alone and unarmed at the time of his abduction, and was in barangay Dobdob merely to help the peasant masses with certain farming-related problems.
“In fact, they said they did not hear even a single gunshot to suggest that there was any kind of armed resistance on the part of Ka Manong” stressed Pantaleon in the same statement.
The NPA Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command believes that Ka Manong’s abduction and involuntary disappearance is connected to the aggressive drive of the Arroyo government to plant jathropa and other cash crops in Negros Oriental , to the detriment of food crops farmers in lowland and upland barangays in the province.
“Upland food crops farmers in the Tamlang Valley area – where barangay Dobdob is located – are the frontline victims of the Teves’ mad campaign to produce bio-fuels for multinational corporations seeking to profit from the country’s serious energy crisis’ stressed Pantaleon the same statement.
The NPA front command also said the abduction and continued disappearance of Ka Manong is proof that certain reforms initiated by the Puno-lead Supreme Court has failed to stem the tide of political killings, involuntary disappearances and other human rights violations by the mercenary-like AFP as mandated by the Arroyo regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL).
“Ka Manong’s arrest and continued disappearance is another proof that no amount of human rights re-education and media re-packaging of AFP units – whether they be the now-transferred 61st IB, or the currently-assigned 79th IB – will stop the mercenary AFP from committing more human rights and international humanitarian law violations in southeast Negros in pursuit of its mad and ill-fated 2010 target deadline to crush the NPA” said Pantaleon.
More than anything else, the continued “involuntary disappearance” of Ka Manong proves the AFP’s desperation amidst the steady stream of fresh recruits to the countryside-based Red army in southeast Negros added Pantaleon.
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Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:33 pm