NDF consultant eludes arrest in Rizal town

A National Democratic Front (NDF) consultant on peace negotiations with the government eluded arrest in Teresa, Rizal, on Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Burgos Jr., commander of the Philippine Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade, said they were about to serve an arrest warrant against Tirso Alcantara alias “Ka Bart,” but the NDF consultant slipped away.

“He is too slippery and that is why we were not able to arrest him again,” Burgos told reporters.

He said Alcantara was first spotted at a village in Umiray, Quezon, in May this year.

Government troops and agents from the National Bureau of Investigation, according to Burgos, were about to serve the warrant, only to find firearms in a farm in Teresa.

Recovered were four M653 or baby Armalite rifles, one M203 grenade launcher, five US-made 12-gauge shotguns, one cal. .45 pistol, one cal. .38 revolver, one 9mm KG3 machine pistol, six two-way radios, two grenades, eight mobile phones, documents and war materiel.

Alcantara was among those ordered released by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 when he announced that he was ready to hold peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Alcantara and 20 others, however, were ordered rearrested by the government after Duterte decided again to scrap the talks last year.