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Southeast Asia

Communist peace consultant, two comrades nabbed

2018-11-13

[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.

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Southeast Asia

NPA finance officer nabbed in Butuan City

2018-02-06

[PhilStar] The Philippine offensive against communist rebels yielded another prize with the arrest of the suspected finance officer of the Mindanao-based New People's Army in Butuan City. The arrest of Leonida Guao – who also goes by Ka Lea, Ka Ligaya and Ka Laya – came following the arrest of NPA leader Rafael Baylosis last Thursday. Eastmincom commander Benjamin Madrigal said Guao was arrested in Barangay Banding, Butuan City on Friday. He said village leaders informed the military that Guao was hiding in their community. Eastmincom spokesperson Ezra Balagtey said Guao is wanted for murder. She said Guao served as the NPA finance officer for all guerrilla fronts operating in Mindanao. A militant lawmaker warned that the NPA could resort to arresting government peace negotiators in retaliation for Baylosis' arrest. Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said, "If the arrest of NDF consultants temporarily released on bail continues, it might reach a point where the NPA would declare they will also arrest government negotiators and consultants." Activists said the arrest of Baylosis was in violation of the immunity guarantee agreement. Baylosis was among 18 militants who were freed as peace consultants to participate in doomed peace talks in The Netherlands. Following the collapse of negotiations, President Duterte ordered the rearrest of the freed insurgents. Meanwhile, eight NPA militants surrendered to the military on Friday and linked a local official in the alleged recruitment of rebels. Westmincom commander Carlito Galvez said three of those who surrendered linked a local official to the CPP-NPA. The military did not divulge the identity of the official, who was described to be facilitating the organization of the lumads as NPA fighters purportedly to reclaim their ancestral lands.

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Southeast Asia

First communist consultant rearrested

2018-02-05

[SUNSTAR.PH] National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Rafael Baylosis was rearrested on Wednesday, January 31 during a joint operation in Quezon City. Baylosis, a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Group on political and constitutional reforms, is the first NDFP consultant rearrested after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the cancellation of the peace talks with the communist rebels and the rearrest of their consultants. Based on a report by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Baylosis was arrested around 3:45 p. m. Wednesday along with alleged NPA member Guillermo Roque at Aurora Boulevard corner Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City. Authorities allegedly recovered from them two calibre .45 pistols, 14 ammunition and two magazines. NDFP negotiating panel legal counsel Edre Olalia said Baylosis is being held at the CIDG detention center in Camp Crame, Quezon City. In a statement, the NDFP condemned what they claimed to be the “illegal arrest and detention” of Baylosis and Roque and demanded their immediate release. “This illegal arrest and detention of NDFP consultant Rafael Baylosis is a flagrant violation of the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG, 1995),” said Luis Jalandoni, member of the NDFP National Executive Committee.

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