NPA to release Lingig mayor this week, says Surigao Sur governor

The communist New People’s Army is set to release Lingig Town Mayor Henry Dano this week, Surigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel said Monday, noting that most of the rebel demands were met. ‘What we are now waiting for is the exact date of Mayor Dano’s release," Pimentel said in an interview with GMA News Online. “Most of their demands have been met, but I cannot divulge them in public," the governor said. He said he was able to talk to Dano “personally, seven times… He is in good health and ready for the release." As to the exact date of Dano’s release, Pimentel said, “we are at the mercy of the abductors." NPA rebels abducted Dano and two military escorts on Aug. 6 at his house in Sabang Village. According to Dano’s wife Amelita, the rebels then sent her text messages broaching the idea that the mayor and his bodyguards would be released in exchange for rebels detained by the police and military authorities. She replied that she does not have the authority to do that but that she would relay the message to higher authorities. They also wanted a cessation of hostilities and for the police and military to stop any operation against the rebels in five provinces, including Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, and Davao Oriental, said Pimentel. "I cannot grant all their demand" “I told them I cannot grant all their demand, except for Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental," Pimentel added. In a statement issued Sept. 30 by the Communist Party of the Philippines Mindanao Regional Party Committee Public Information Office, the rebel group said it has “ordered the release from custody." “The Southern Regional Party Committee said that the order is a ‘unilateral exercise of revolutionary political authority by the CPP as the ruling party of the People’s Democratic Government,’" according to the statement signed by Mel Rivera. Dano, according to the CPP, issued “an apology" which prompted “a political decision to suspend the judicial proceedings against the municipal mayor." The CPP said “a case was filed against him for building and maintaining a private armed group in connivance with military officers of the 75th Infantry Battalion and in conjunction with the counterrevolutionary intelligence operations of the 4th Infantry Division — Philippine Army — Armed Forces of the Philippines." According to the CPP, “Mayor Dano was likewise charged with particular acts of building a private armed group, murder, intelligence-gathering, harassment, grave threats and coercion as criminal acts, violating the rights and status of the civilian population as provided for in the Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government, the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human rights and International Humanitarian Law and of International human rights law." “Kung puwede, huwag na nating patagalin and pag-release kay Mayor Dano," Pimentel said, addressing the mayor’s captors. — PE/VS, GMA News