ZAMBOANGA (Philippines), Nov 16: A Philippine Special Forces officer who went missing more than a week ago is being held as a “prisoner of war” by the communist New People’s Army, a rebel spokesman said on Sunday.

Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo went missing on Nov 7 after a firefight in northern Mindanao between a special forces unit and the NPA that left two soldiers and a pro-government militiaman dead.

“Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo, commander of the 11th Special Forces Company, was taken as an NPA prisoner of war,” Rigoberto Sanchez, an NPA spokesman, said in a statement released on Sunday.

“The smashing blow is a testament to the increasing military capabilities of the NPA,” he added.

Army Major General Jogy Leo Fojas, commander of the army’s 10th Infantry Division on the southern island of Mindanao, said “the offensive against the NPA will not stop until the rebel group is neutralised.” “Our troops will not get tired of running after the NPA bandits,” he added.

“We will never stop until we get hold of Cammayo and return him to his loved ones.” Sanchez said Cammayo is being interrogated for possible human rights violations and other crimes related to operations of the special forces in Mindanao.

The 5,000-strong NPA is the armed unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969 in one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.

—AFP