Leftist negotiators are expected to complain and call for the release of Adelberto Silva
The arrest of a top communist leader will not affect the plans of the government to continue calling for the resumption of stalled peace talks with the 47-year-old Communist Party of the
The Philippine government has not officially ended its
23-year-old on-and-off peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF), a
peace negotiator of the CPP-NPA, who requested anonymity, said prompting an
observer to say the government is always “willing to rekindle” peace talks with
the NDF before elections, one of which will be held mid-2016.
Leftist negotiators are also expected to complain and call
for the release of Adelberto Silva, 60, identified as secretary-general of the
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and head of CPP’s National
Organisation Department, who was arrested in his home on Hernandez Street, in
Molino village, Baccor City at 11pm on Monday, for his alleged responsibility
in the mass murder of 15 people in Leyte, central Philippines, in 1985.
Silva’s wife Sharon Ronquillo Cabusao and CPP member Isidro
de Lima were also arrested because ammunition, explosives, electronic devices,
grenade launchers, identification cards, and subversive materials were seized
from them during the joint military and police raid that was backed by months
of surveillance, said Col. Harold Cabunoc, head of the public affairs of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines
Silva, also known as Renato Dimacali, Percival Rojo, and
Greg Santos, allegedly succeeded Wilma Tiamzon, former CCP’s secretary general
before her arrest in Cebu, Central Philippines, last March 14. Her husband
Benito Tiamzon, CPP and NPA head, was also arrested at that time.
Last April, during the celebration of the founding of the
NDF, head Luis Jalandoni said the Philippine government-NDF peace talks could
resume anytime as long as the government releases 16 NDF peace consultants, the
Tiamzon couple, and hundreds more of leftist political prisoners held by the
police and the military nationwide.
Identifying the political prisoners who should be released
immediately, Jalandoni had said, “Those who are sick, elderly, and imprisoned
for four years or more.” The two parties forged an initial agreement in 1995 to
grant leftist peace negotiators immunity from arrest.
“What is important in the peace talks is that it does not
result in the capitulation [of the 47-year-old CPP],” explained Jalandoni, in
response to the government’s earlier demand of forging of ceasefire agreement
between the NPA fighters and government security forces.
CCP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, who has been living
in exile in the Netherlands
The CPP-NPA peaked with 25,000 armed members in the seventies,
but this weakened to 5,000 with the expulsion of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
Despite this, it has remained in control of majority of far-flung villages and
municipalities that do not receive government services.
http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/philippines/philippines-arrest-of-top-rebel-leader-will-not-affect-peace-talks-1.1529235
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