2 NorMin 'activists' arrested, not missing: Cops

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Two members of leftist organizations here who were thought to be missing since Monday turned out to have been arrested by police for various criminal charges.

In a statement Wednesday, Chief Supt. Timoteo Pacleb, Police Regional Office-10 director, said Ireneo Udarbe and Jomorito Goaynon were arrested for four counts of attempted murder and frustrated murder.

Human rights group Karapatan reported Goaynon, chairman of the Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization, and Udarbe, chairperson of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Northern Mindanao Region, as missing since they left their office here.

Pacleb said Udarbe and Guaynon are members of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

“They are not missing. Udarbe and (Guaynon) were arrested in Barangay Patag by virtue of a court-issued arrest warrant according to our records,” he said, adding that the arrest warrants were issued by Judge Emmanuel Pasal of the Regional Trial Court Branch 38 in this city.

Pacleb said arresting policemen seized from Udarbe and Goaynon several firearms, fragmentation grenades, and subversive documents during their arrest.

Prior to the arrest, Guaynon filed a complaint against the Army’s 65th Infantry Battalion for “harassment and forced surrender.”

Karapatan Secretary General Kristina Palabay condemned the duo's arrest, describing it as "harassment against leaders of militant groups, especially peasants and tribal peoples." (PNA)