Philippines: NDFP CONDEMNS ABDUCTION OF NDFP CONSULTANT ELIZABETH PRINCIPE

PRESS STATEMENT
30 November 2007

NDFP CONDEMNS ABDUCTION OF NDFP CONSULTANT ELIZABETH PRINCIPE

By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel

The NDFP vigorously condemns the abduction of NDFP Consultant Elizabeth Principe in broad daylight at 11:20 a.m. on 28 November 2007 in Cubao, Quezon City by eight men in black uniform similar to that used by the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The modus operandi of the abductors is the same as that used in the abduction of Jonas Burgos on 12 April 2007, NDFP Consultant Leo Velasco on 19 February 2007 and numerous other enforced disappearances perpetrated by the Arroyo regime’s military, police and paramilitary forces.

The NDFP holds Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales of the Cabinet Oversight Committee for Internal Security (COC-IS) responsible for this abduction, the enforced disappearance of other NDFP Consultants and many other victims of involuntary disappearances by the Arroyo regime. These grave crimes against the Filipino people deepen the isolation of the Arroyo regime and push the people to fight ever more strongly to oust it.

Ms. Elizabeth Principe, 56 years old, married with two children, of Bongabong, Nueva Ecija, is protected by the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, as an NDFP Consultant in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The NDFP demands the immediate surfacing and release of Ms. Elizabeth Principe.

This latest in a long series of gross violations of the JASIG and other peace agreements seriously jeopardizes any possibility for exploratory peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP. The NDFP calls on all who strive for justice and peace to press for the surfacing and release of Ms. Principe and other victims of involuntary disappearances perpetrated by the Arroyo regime.

REFERENCE:
Ruth de Leon
Executive Director
NDFP International Information Office
Tel.+31-30-2310431
Fax +31-84-7589930
Email: ndf@casema.nl

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