NPA rebels release town mayor, 2 military escorts

(Updated 2:40 p.m.) BUTUAN CITY — After exactly two months and three days in captivity, Mayor Henry Dano of Lingig town in Surigao del Sur and two of his military escorts were released Sunday afternoon by New People's Army rebels who seized the three last August 6. Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel said Mayor Dano and the two soldiers were released past 1 p.m. in a remote area at the boundary of Agusan del Sur and Compostela Valley provinces. The NPA freed the three captives to their wives at the release site, said Governor Pimentel, who is Provincial Chairman of the Government Crisis Committee handling Dano's kidnapping case. Also, Pimentel said the wives of the three broke in tears after witnessing their husbands' release. The two soldiers who were released with the mayor were Army Corporal Alrey Desamparado and Private First Class Alan Saban. Days before the planned release, the NPA urged the government to suspend all military operations in specific towns in the provinces of Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley, including the City of Bislig, to ensure the safety of the captives. “The particular scope within which the [NPA] custodial unit would select the release site were the following towns: Lingig in Surigao del Sur, Boston and Cateel in Davao Oriental, Trento in Agusan del Sur, and Monkayo and Compostela in Compostela Valley and Bislig City" a statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) statement said. Earlier, the NPA announced it took pity on the two soldier-escorts of Dano, even though the “crimes" they committed against the "people" warrant maximum penalty of death. “There are clear and justifiable bases for the NPA to mete out the maximum penalty of death on the two soldiers," said Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command, in an email message sent to reporters on October 6. Among the “crimes" the two soldiers committed were their participation in military intelligence operations that led to the death of an NPA cadre in Bukidnon several months ago; and the arrest of an NPA leader and two more cadres in June. The death of the NPA cadre alone was enough reason to collect blood debt from the two soldiers, Sanchez said. “However, as an act of humanitarianism… the NPA will grant the conditional release of the two captured enemy intelligence officers," he said. — Ben Serrano/LBG, GMA News