True to their word, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines NDFP) and the New  People's Army (NPA) released Brig. Gen. Victor Obillo, commanding officer of the 55th  Engineering Brigade, his aide Capt. Eduardo Montealto and five other officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police they had held captive as prisoners of war (POWs) in the last few weeks.

     Obillo and Montealto were released on April 16 in the mountain village of Unapan, barrio Suawan, Marilog district of Davao City, after a few hours' delay because of the interference  of two enemy helicopters which flew over the release area, and the presence of two jeeploads of heavily armed police officers in the area.

     In the following days, the NDFP and the NPA, police intelligence Maj. Roberto Bernal, Army Sgt. Alipio Lozada. and Army Sgt. Wivino Demol, who had been captured in other NPA tactical offensives (TOs) in other parts of the country, were also released. 

     All the POWs said they were well treated by units of the people's army which had captured And kept them in custody.  They were so fullsome in their praise for the NPA guerrillas' dedication to the people's welfare that, upon their release, they were regarded with suspicion by their superiors in the AFP and PNP for their "disloyal" remarks.   

     In particular, Obillo and Montealto, and Bernal, told the mass media upon their release that They had been treated humanely by the NPA.  Asked about how he was treated by the people's army, Obillo said, "I could not ask for more.  I was 'babied' and was served breakfast in bed." The general added in an interview with mass media, "What I saw…is their commitment and  their dedication.  They have a cause and are committed to it.  I respect that.  This is a very disciplined unit."

     Bernal, on the other hand, told PNP and AFP officers and men:  "Do not be afraid if you are taken prisoner by the NPA because they will take good care of you."  Then, taking exception to their present practice, he called on his fellow policemen to respect the human rights of NPA fighters who might fall into their hands."

     Obillo and Montealto, who had been captured by the NPA on February 17, would certainly have been released much earlier had it not been for President Joseph Estrada's macho posturing of "no talks" with the NDFP and NPA, and then launched massive military operations to recover the two officers.  He had also suspended any talks between the negotiating panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and of the NDFP which, previously, had been a channel for such discussions.

      For instance, Estrada had publicly disapproved of the efforts of a panel headed by Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla, and another initiative by Senator Loren Legarda, to approach the NDFP negotiating panel in Utrecht, The Netherlands, to seek the release of Obillo and Montealto and the other soldiers and policeman being held by the NPA as POWs.  Still another humanitarian group headed by Obispo Maximo (Supreme Bishop) Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and Bishop Roman Tiples Jr., general secretary of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP), also made the trip to Utrecht to talk to the NDFP's representatives. 

     Later, however, when thousands of his troops spent day after day combing the forests of southern Mindanao without any result,  he privately gave his blessings to Capalla's and Legarda's initiatives.  Legarda and Capalla's panel met with Luis Jalandoni and Jose Maria Sison, chairman and chief political consultant of the NDF panel, respectively, and agreed to a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the release of the prisoners.  In general, this MOA was honored by Estrada.

     In the release of the POWs, such representatives of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) as Pierre Delacoste and Olivier Jenard were present to accept the POWs.  Then the POWs were turned over to the government and to their families.  Also present were Romeo T. Capulong, head of the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) and general counsel of the NDFP negotiating panel, and NDFP consultants.

     Soon after the NPA's capture of Obillo and Montealto on February 17, Estrada suspended the GRP-NDFP's Joint Agreement for Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and ordered the arrest of all NDFP negotiators, consultants, advisers, staff and security force who are covered by these guarantees.  

     This was a case of Estrada indulging in treachery and in a political swindle.  There had been no agreement between the GRP and the NDFP on a ceasefire in their civil war.  In fact, the reactionary Armed Forces of the Philippines and its national police force had been intensifying their so-called "counter-insurgency" campaigns and been summarily executing ("salvaging") NPA guerrillas wounded and captured by them.    
     
     In unilaterally suspending the JASIG, a solemn agreement to which the GRP had entered, Estrada thus deprived the NDFP representatives of the safety and immunity guarantees which guarantee them freedom from arrest one month after the talks are concluded.

     Estrada had also suspended the GRP-NDFP's Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) which had been approved  by the negotiating panels of the GRP and of the NDFP in early 1998.  This had been approved by NDFP Chairperson Mariano Orosa and, much later, by Estrada himself.  

     In approving the agreement, however, Estrada imposed certain conditions which are totally unacceptable to the NDFP.  This condition would involve the NDFP's repudiation of its own Constitution and its own 12-Point Program and its total acceptance of the GRP constitution which would be tantamount to capitulation and repudiation of revolutionary principles.

     It is not clear now how the peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP can proceed, with Estrada doing as he pleases with the agreements negotiated and entered into with the NDFP, and with the NDFP withholding its trust from the Estrada regime.  The NDFP says that the Estrada regime is treacherous and refuses to negotiate with it in any manner.