DAVAO, Philippines: Communist insurgents killed five civilians and kidnapped five soldiers in the southern Philippines yesterday in the latest of a series of violent acts following the collapse of peace talks, authorities said.
About 40 New People’s Army guerrillas attacked a tree plantation on the island of Mindanao on Tuesday, killing five workers and burning equipment, said military spokesman Col. Ramon Zagala.
Just a day earlier, NPA fighters in another part of Mindanao seized five soldiers as they were passing through on motorcycles, he added.
Zagala condemned the latest attacks, saying this showed the communists were not interested in peace efforts.
“This is clearly contrary to what they’re saying, that they want to end violence... through peace talks,” he said.
The attack on the tree plantation is part of an extortion attempt by the rebels, regional military spokesman Major Leo Bongosia said.
“The plantation did not give in to the NPA’s extortion demands. The usual tactic is to burn the equipment as a warning,” he said.
“Perhaps they fought back and resisted,” Bongosia said when asked why he thought the civilian workers were shot dead by the rebels.
Some 171 km (106 miles) away, in Davao City, an NPA unit abducted five soldiers as they were traveling unarmed and in civilian clothes to buy supplies for a community feeding program.
The kidnappers wore military-style uniforms, said the local military chief, Col. Leopoldo Galon.
Held for five years without charge
The Philippine justice secretary yesterday demanded an investigation after a woman was detained in a police prison for more than five years without charge, in a case likened to the plight of terror suspects languishing in Guantanamo Bay.
Joanne Urbina was arrested along with a male suspect after police found 150 grams of banned stimulants and marijuana at her Manila home on Dec. 14, 2007, court records show.
The justice department decided not to press charges against the man, who was later freed, but also failed to charge Urbina, who was 25 at the time of her arrest and was only released on June 11 this year.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who supervises the country’s prison system, said she only learnt of the case when Urbina was freed.
She ordered an investigation to determine if any official was criminally liable for the “inordinate and inexcusable delay in resolving the automatic review of the Urbina case.”
“It’s indeed an unfortunate and deplorable case of violation of the constitutional and human rights of the respondent,” de Lima told reporters.
A ruling by the court of appeal drew comparisons with the US military jail Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which holds “indefinite detainees,” terror suspects considered too dangerous to transfer from prison who cannot be tried in court.
“More than five years of detention, without valid information filed in court, is unreasonable; it is intolerable; it is shockingly unimaginable. It smacks of persecution rather than prosecution,” the court ruling read.
“It conjures up images of Guantanamo Bay detainees who have never been allowed a speedy and fair trial, a civil right granted to all by the constitution.”
