Statement on the capture of Eliseo (Ka Bimbo) Tada
DENCIO MADRIGAL
Commander, Valentin Palamine Command
Regional Operational Command
NPA-Far South Mindanao Region
26 September 2010
Eliseo (Ka Bimbo) Tada is a very sick man who has been ill for some time now and had to have immediate medical treatment in a hospital. Medics of the New People's Army who attended to him decided he should have a more specialized and extensive treatment, which at that particular time, could not be provided by the guerilla front.
For this reason, the comrades decided to brave the odds and bring him to the nearest medical facility in order to save his life. Unfortunately, he was accosted by enemy patrols along the way, interrogated and brought to 39th Infantry Battalion's headquarters in Davao del Sur.
During the interrogation, he must have been physically and psychologically forced to admit to certain activities of which he had no knowledge about.
It is not true that Ka Bimbo was part of the team that attacked the Armed Forces of the Philippines contingents at Sitio Akboal, Upper Suyan, Sarangani Province.
This is physically impossible as Datu Danwata (where he was accosted) and Akboal, Malapatan (where the attack took place on 21 September ) are separated by a very mountainous terrain which cannot possibly be reached in a period of three days.
We suggest that Major Medel Aguilar of the 10th Infantry Division and the AFP's spin doctors review their geography to make themselves more credible.
Besides, how could Ka Bimbo participate in the attritive action when he was very sick and has been on treatment by the NPA medics for some time now?
He was neither in any of the two other tactical offensives launched by the Red fighters on 18 and 20 September in Malita, Davao del Sur and in Malapatan, Sarangani, respectively, which are within Front 71 territories.
Major Aguilar was very quick to claim for himself and the AFP the honor of capturing this very sick man, Ka Bimbo, and parading him to the world as a 'surenderee.' He has no qualms at all about making up tall stories and demonstrating to the entire world the pathetic liar that he is.
For instance, the AFP's so-called "anti dengue fever advocacy" is nothing but a ploy for the government troopers to militarize the mineral-rich areas of Malapatan and Alabel in Sarangani Province and Little Baguio in Davao del Sur, to pave way for the immediate entry of Looc Mining of Eduardo Cojuangco, President Aquino's uncle.
While Major Aguilar and Col. Edgardo de Leon of the 73rd Infantry Battalion have fabricated so many recycled and rehashed 'surrenderees' in the Malapatan-Alabel area and have pompously announced there are no more NPAs in Sarangani, they should be reminded that lies and deceit will never win the war for the AFP. In fact, these will isolate them more from the people and towards the AFP's eventual downfall.
More importantly, it is but proper that the AFP abide by the international humanitarian laws as they have so continually boasted about. As such we demand that the AFP treat Ka Bimbo as hors de combat and accord him the proper treatment as stipulated in the Rules of War of the Geneva Convention and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
