From the Business Mirror (Jun 17): Arrested CPP-NPA leader claims to be NDF peace consultant
A COMMUNIST Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) leader who was arrested in Bacoor, Cavite, early this month said he is a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF).
Adelberto Silva issued the statement on Wednesday through human-rights group Karapatan, belying earlier claims of the Armed Forces that Silva is currently the secretary-general of the CPP-NPA.
“I am a consultant of the NDF in its peace negotiations with the Philippine government. I helped prepare the labor and economic agenda in the 1987 peace negotiation and in the current peace talks between the government and NDF. I am committed to the struggle for a just and lasting peace, pave a path by which our country can lift itself out of the quagmire of crisis, poverty, mendicancy and corruption we currently find ourselves in,” the 67-year-old Silva said in his statement.
In a statement, the Armed Forces Public Affairs Office, headed by Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, said that Silva, who is facing criminal charges filed by family members of the victims of the alleged NPA purge in Leyte, was arrested by virtue of an arrest warrant for heinous crimes such as murder and frustrated murder. He was tagged as among those who had allegedly participated in the Inopacan Massacre, which claimed the lives of at least 400 people, according to Cabunoc.
In his statement, Silva claimed he is a holder of Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig) documentation of identification with the assumed named “Percival Rojo” and with Document of Identification ND 978229.
Silva, his wife Rosanna Cabusao and another companion, Isidro de Lima, were arrested in Molino, Bacoor, Cavite, by National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group agents.
Cabusao is a researcher-consultant of the Crispin B. Beltran Resource Center and a founding member of Gabriela.
Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay chided the government and the military for having consistently disregarded and violated the Jasig.
“Wala namang kinilala o in-acknowledge na peace consultant ang mga iyan. They always resort to criminalizing the work of peace consultants; arresting and detaining them on trumped-up criminal charges and planted guns and explosives,” she said.
Palabay said Silva showed the arresting group his Jasig ID.
“He should be protected from arrest and detention. His arrest and that of his wife activist Rosanna Cabusao and companion Isidro de Lima is illegal,” Palabay said.
“I surmised that I was made to appear as the new secretary general of Communist Party of the Philippines so that the Armed Forces and National Police could collect higher monetary reward or bounty for my arrest and for psychological warfare operations. I categorically deny trumped-up multiple charges against me.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/arrested-cpp-npa-leader-claims-to-be-ndf-peace-consultant/
That's what all the captured NDF/NPA leaders say. They flaunt the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig) agreement as though it is a forever get-out-of-jail-free card even though the NDF clearly failed in its obligation, as agreed to during the peace negotiations, to provide a list of NDF consultants and their corresponding pseudonyms thus rendering the JASIG inoperative. The commies a disingenuous when they now attempt to invoke the JASIG to gain the release of captured NDF/NPA leaders.
ReplyDeleteAs an added note: Once again KARAPATAN comes to the immediate aid of a captured NDF/NPA leader but can't seem to find the time to investigate the recent murders of at least four civilians by NPA hit squads.