-
In a press statement dated January 3, Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the Merardo Arce Command of the Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command of the NPA, said the “volatile ground situation” due to the “AFP troop deployment and current offensive military operations has made the safe and orderly release of …. Cammayo not feasible.”
Cammayo, commander of the 11th Special Forces Company, was captured during a clash on November 7 in Casoon, Monkayo, Compostela Valley, that left two soldiers and a government militia dead.”
Sanchez said elements from the Army’s 10th Infantry Division “resumed offensive operations in the AOR of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion-AFP as early as January 1 particularly in Laak, Compostela Valley Province.” The order to release Cammayo in the first week of January was issued on December 28, 2008.
Reacting to the latest press statement, Major Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said “it is as simple as releasing Lt. Cammayo in areas where there are no military operations. They can even leave Lt. Cammayo in a barangay and show him the trail going to the poblacion. Unless they have different plans. They should no longer hold Cammayo as hostage. He had been tried through their ‘kangaroo court’ and found out without offense. If this is the way they treat the innocent, I pity the guilty.”
Cammayo was last seen in a video clip on November 30, claiming he was being treated well and his rights respected.
His wife, Mariel, is pregnant. (MindaNews)