This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 3, February 22, 2006
Another Escaped Magdalo Officer Captured BY BULATLAT At exactly 12:30 p.m., the Huey helicopter
that transported captured Oakwood mutineer First Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan
landed at the Headquarters of the Philippine Army in Fort Bonifacio, Makati
City. San Juan was captured a day after he
publicly warned that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who faces charges of
fraud and human rights abuses, will be booted from power by the end of February. San Juan, who wore a checkered green and
white polo and denim pants, was escorted by around 15 of his captors including
Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) Chief Maj. Gen. Pedro Cabuay Jr. After alighting from the helicopter, San
Juan was brought into a midnight green AUV. Army spokesman Major Bartolome
Bacarro said the captured mutineer will be brought to the Army Intelligence and
Security Group (ISG) for debriefing. Cabuay, in a briefing with the media
immediately after he alighted from the chopper, said San Juan was captured
Tuesday at exactly 5:45 a.m. at Barangay (village) San Felipe, Lipa City,
Batangas (84 km south of Manila) by combined forces of the army, police, the
Philippine Air Force’s 740th Combat Group and provincial intelligence forces.
The Solcom chief also confirmed reports that
the Oakwood mutineer was captured with a certain Albert Guyal, tagged as a New
People’s Army (NPA) guerilla, and Jose Christopher Belmonte who, according to
Cabuay, is a counsel for San Juan. The three, Cabuay said, were left behind in
Batangas and will be charged for allegedly coddling a fugitive. Cabuay said San Juan was monitored to have
met with NPA leaders night of Feb. 21 in Barangay Bukal, Padre Garcia. He said
this was confirmed by the subversive documents recovered in the area where the
alleged meeting took place. He did not give details. “Tumakbo si San Juan kaya nahuli sya sa
checkpoint,” (San Juan ran and was captured in a checkpoint.) Cabuay said. It
has been earlier reported that San Juan was held at a checkpoint while on board
a Mitsubishi Adventure mini-van with plate number XAY-269. “This is an unholy alliance between two
groups with different ideologies,” Cabuay said referring to the alleged alliance
between the Magdalo and the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP) that has been waging a 37-year protracted people’s war. CPP spokesperson Rogelio “Ka Roger” Rosal,
in a radio interview over dzRH this morning, said he had no knowledge of the
said meeting. San Juan is one of the four members of
Magdalo, a young military officers’ group that staged a mutiny against the
Macapagal-Arroyo administration in July 2003, who escaped from detention
midnight of Feb. 17. Cabuay said the three other escaped
mutineers are still in hiding but manhunt operations for their capture are
underway. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Posted 5:00 p.m. Feb 21, 2006