Rebs press release of Balweg from detention

SOMEWHERE IN THE CORDILLERA – A rebel group has called for the immediate release from detention of ailing Jovencio Balweg and his wife Carmen who were tagged by the military as top leaders of the communist party in northern Luzon.

The Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front said Jovencio was undergoing medication and came from a medical checkup when accosted and arrested by police of regional intelligence office.

Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan, CPDF spokesperson said Carmen should be released to care for Jovencio and because she is also undergoing medical treatment for illnesses.

Jovencio had been tagged by the military for allegedly leading the raid on their ancestral home in Abra which resulted to the killing of his brother, former rebel priest Conrado Balweg, who broke away from the New People’s Army in 1985 and formed the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army.

The CPLA later signed a peace agreement with the Aquino government in 1986 and has since joined government troopers in operations against the NPA.

“The CPDF holds the government responsible should anything happen to the couple (Jovencio and Carmen Balweg) while under detention given their medical situation,” Naogsan said. “Continued incarceration would not be conducive to the health situation of Jovencio. It exposes the desperation of GMA and her fascist generals to squeeze whatever propaganda value they can make out of it and prop up their hallucination to crush the armed revolution before 2010.

“The deceptive psychological warfare tactics behind the series of misreports regarding the couple’s arrest need to be exposed. For one, their son was with Jovencio when they were accosted and arrested at the Satellite market of Camp 7 in Baguio by the R2 operatives.”

The Balweg couple’s detention, the CPDF said, derails serious effort for genuine peace negotiation by the Arroyo regime. “The CPDF challenges the Arroyo regime and his AFP/PNP generals to reciprocate the humane treatment it has accorded captured soldiers and paramilitary elements during tactical offensives launched by the NPA such as in Sallapadan and Boliney in Abra, Mankayan in Benguet and Tadian in Mountain Province in the distant past.

Those wounded in combat on the government side, the CPDF added, were given first aid and released by the NPA.” – AD