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Communist peace consultant, two comrades nabbed
 [Manila Times] A National Democratic Front (NDF) peace consultant was arrested in a house in Novaliches, Quezon City on Thursday morning. The NDF is an umbrella group that counts the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army, the CPP’s armed wing, as members, among other groups.Police spokesman Guillermo Eleazar said Vicente Ladlad, Antonio de Jesus and “Anna” were arrested by members of the police and the military in a raid on a house of a friend of Ladlad at around midnight in Barangay San Bartolome. Eleazar said Ladlad was positively identified by former militants now working with the government. Ladlad’s wife Fides went to the NCRPO headquarters to see her husband after the arrest. She told reporters that the firearms found in the house where her husband was arrested were planted by the raiders. “Everything is fake. This is what they are doing for all of us to come out… I want all of those guns fingerprinted because if those really belong to Vic (Ladlad’s nickname), his fingerprints should be there,” Fides said in English and Filipino. In response, Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde said they will subject the firearms to ballistic and fingerprint tests. Eleazar said it is normal for leftists to claim that firearms are planted. Quezon City Police District Director and Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel said they will verify if the firearms were licensed, but based on the search warrants none of the suspects has the right to own the guns. Human rights group Karapatan called for the release of Ladlad and his companions, saying their arrest was a violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees that protects peace consultants from arrest and detention. Before Ladlad, several peace consultants were arrested after Duterte terminated peace talks with the NDF, including Rafael Baylosis, Adelberto Silva and Ferdinand Castillo. Malacañang also on Thursday said there was nothing illegal in the arrest of Ladlad. In a news conference, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees was no longer operative because the President had scrapped the peace talks with the communists. Albayalde, who celebrated his 55th birthday on Thursday, denied that the arrest is a “birthday gift” to him. Posted by: ryuge 2018-11-13 |
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