Philippines: Bayan Muna seeks release of NDF consultant

Bayan Muna party-list Representatives Satur C. Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño are seeking the release of a National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panel consultant, arrested by combined elements of the military and police last week, as a confidence-building measure for the resumption of the peace negotiations between the government and the NDFP.

The Bayan Muna lawmakers yesterday filed House Resolution No. 366 “directing the Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, on the arrest and detention of National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace panel consultant Elizabeth Principe and seek her immediate release as a confidence-building measure to pave the way for the resumption of the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.”

HR 366 states that Principe was abducted at 11:20 a.m. on November 28, 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).

Ms. 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 (JASIG), 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 JASIG, signed by the GRP and the NDFP in 1995, lays down principles and modalities for safety and immunity guarantees for the personnel, consultants and other people involved in the formal peace negotiations. It provides for the free and unhindered passage and travel of negotiators, consultants and other personnel of both peace panels and protects them from surveillance, harassment, searches, arrest, detention, prosecution, interrogation and other similar action,” Ocampo and Casiño said in their resolution.

Ocampo and Casiño said that “the arrest and detention of Principe and the previous abduction of NDFP peace panel consultants Leo Velasco, Prudencio Calubid and Rogelio Calubad and their staff as well as civilians abducted with them indicate bad faith on the part of the GRP and have enormous negative effects on efforts to resume peace negotiations.”

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently instructed the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza to explore the readiness of the NDFP to resume peace talks that have been suspended since August 2004.

The Bayan Muna resolution also noted “the manner of her (Principe) abduction was reportedly the same as that used in the abduction of Jonas Burgos on April 12, 2007, NDFP Consultant Leo Velasco on February 19, 2007 and numerous other cases of enforced disappearances under the Arroyo government.”

The resolution also states that “after NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Luis G. Jalandoni demanded her release, Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, commanding general of the Philippine Army, admitted that combined elements of the Intelligence and Security Group of the Philippine Army and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police arrested Principe on November 28. Gen. Yano presented her to the media on November 30.” #

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