Karapatan scored the BS Aquino government for the recent arrest of Adelberto Silva, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in the negotiation with the Philippine government, as “another serious violation of the signed agreements between the two parties.”
Karapatan scored the BS Aquino government for the recent arrest of Adelberto Silva, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in the negotiation with the Philippine government, as “another serious violation of the signed agreements between the two parties.”
Silva, 67, is a holder of JASIG documentation of identification with the assumed named “Percival Rojo” was arrested on June 1, 2015 in Molino, Bacoor, Cavite. A long-time trade union organizer, Silva currently serves as a consultant of the Kilusang Mayo Uno. His wife, Rosanna Cabusao, and another companion, Isidro De Lima, were also arrested by some 30 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (CIDG-PNP). Cabusao is a researcher/consultant of the Crispin B. Beltran Resource Center and a founding member of Gabriela.
Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General, said the arrest of Silva shows “how the GPH continues to undermine the peace process by disregarding the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) because of the trumped up charges filed against peace consultants.”
Silva reportedly was charged with numerous fabricated criminal cases of murder and frustrated/attempted murder in the courts in Aparri, Cagayan and Laoang, Northern Samar, where NDFP consultants Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria Tiamzon and Elizabeth Principe were also charged with the same trumped up cases. Prior to Silva’s arrest, Karapatan has documented 16 NDFP consultants arrested and are still detained, among the 527 political prisoners in the country.
To justify the arrest of Silva and his companions, Karapatan said fabricated charges of illegal possession of firearm and explosives were also filed against them in the inquest proceedings yesterday in Bacoor, Cavite.
“The evidences against them were planted during the raid by the CIDG. This practice of arresting individuals based on planted evidence should stop,” Palabay said.
Karapatan recalled a similar pattern in the illegal arrest and detention this March of another NDFP consultant and 12 other individuals in the raid by the CIDG-PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines in Caloocan and Quezon City.
“Karapatan reiterates our call to the GPH to respect the JASIG, CARHRIHL and all agreements with the NDFP and for the release of all political prisoners,” Palabay stated.