2 soldiers held captive by NPA rebels in NCotabato

Communist rebels on Sunday said they are holding two Army intelligence officers in North Cotabato in southern Philippines. In a statement, the New People’s Army (NPA) identified the two as Corporal Delfin Sarocam and Private First Class Jayson Valenzuela, both from the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion (IB). The two were captured last April 14 in President Roxas town. This confirms earlier field reports cited by Col. Prudencio Asto of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division that two Army soldiers had been abducted by NPA rebels. In a statement released on Sunday, rebel spokesperson Isabel Santiago said both officers were conducting “investigations for serious violations and implementing the government’s anti-revolutionary measures." The 57th IB operates in the towns of President Roxas, Magpet, Antipas and Arakan, all in North Cotabato. Sarocam and Valenzuela were abducted by around 20 fully-armed men while they were on their way to Sitio Dalinding, Barangay Datu Puas Inda, a lumad-dominated village in President Roxas, according to initial reports from local police. Lumad refers to the indigenous tribes in the area. “Sarocam and Valenzuela are part of the AFP's special operations team unleashed in North Cotabato implementing the US-Aquino counter-revolutionary plan ‘Bayanihan.’ Operating under the cover of ‘peace and development’ activities, Sarocam and Valenzuela conducted intelligence operations particularly verifying the presence of red fighters in Barangay Datu Inda when they were arrested," the statement said. Two caliber .45 pistols were confiscated from Sarocam and Valenzeula, said Santiago. According to the statement, the special operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) intimidate and harass local residents by forcing them to join the Barangay Defense System (BDS) in rebel-infested areas, including North Cotabato in Southwest Mindanao and Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao. Appeals to free captive soldiers Lieutenant Manuel Gatus, chief of the civil-military operations of the 57th IB, said the soldiers were set to conduct consultation-dialogue as part of peace-building efforts in the village when they were abducted and brought to a rebel headquarter somewhere in Bukidnon province. The relatives of the two captives have since issued appeals to have the two freed. “I believe my husband was just doing his job. He is a good person and a good provider to his family," said Sarocam’s wife, Jean. Sarocam has previously served as part of a peace contingent in Africa for over six months. Valenzuela, according to his mother Gina, helps send his siblings to school. “We don’t know where to get money for the enrolment of my other children. June is past approaching. We depend much from my son Jayson," said Gina. Santiago assured Sarocam and Velenzuela’s families that they would follow war protocols and the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. The NPA statement made no mention about the status of a former village official, Eliory Lastimosa, who was seized along with the two soldiers. — MRT/KBK, GMA News