Rebels want AFP, PNP to suspend ops

THE National Democratic Front in Northern Mindanao has asked the military on Monday to implement a 10-day suspension of military and police operations in at least 74 villages in Bukidnon starting March 27 so it can safely release a policeman who was captured by the Communist guerrillas.

Police Officer 2 Anthony Natividad, who is assigned at the Kalilangan municipal police in Bukidnon, was on his way to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Alagar on board his motorcycle to undergo medical examination when taken by the members of the New People's Army in Barangay Tikalaan, Talakag town.

Cesar Renerio, spokesperson of the NDF-Northcentral Mindanao Region, in a statement said they are willing to release Natividad on condition that the army and police will order its forces to stand down in some villages in the towns of Talakag, Lantapan, Baungon, Pangantucan, and Kalilangan, and the cities of Malaybalay and Valencia.

For its part, Renerio said the NDF-NCMR through the NPA will declare its own temporary cessation of hostilities once law enforcers will agree to the condition.

The group has assured that Natividad is in good condition as it finds no reason to detain him further.

“After a thorough investigation and background check on his personal life and as a police officer, we found out that he (Natividad) committed no crime against the people and we see no reason to keep him,” Renerio said in the statement. The Communist rebels have also asked the local third-party facilitators, the local crisis committee of Bukidnon, as well as the Phil. Army officials and PNP regional and provincial leaderships to cooperate to ensure that the police officer can safely go back home to his family.

The military, for its part, will wait for instructions from Pres. Rodrigo Duterte through the Department of National Defense before it could act on the NDF's request, said Capt. Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the Philippine Army's 4th Infantry Division.

Martinez said if there are moves from the third-party facilitators and the local crisis committee to arrange for Natividad's release, then the Armed Forces of the Philippines will welcome it.

Meanwhile, Martinez said rescue operations for Natividad conducted by government troopers is ongoing as of Monday, March 27, the supposed start of the 10-day suspension of military and police operations according to the NDF-NCMR.