NDF consultant nabbed in Laguna

THE Philippine Army arrested a high-ranking consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF) as the alleged ‘’ Red October’’ plot against President Rodrigo Duterte has suffered a “meltdown,” Armed Forces chief Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Tuesday.

In a joint press conference at Camp Crame with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde, Galvez told reporters that NDF consultant Adelberto Silva and four others were apprehended in Santa Cruz, Laguna at 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., commander of the Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade ( 202IB), said that aside from Silva, also arrested were Edicel Legaspi alias Joventud del Fierro, Ernesto Lorenzo alias Adlai, a certain Wena and Batu.

In his report, Burgos said Silva was the current head of the NDF’s national organizing department while the four others were members of the group.

Galvez earlier announced the arrest of Silva, who was granted a reprieve by the Duterte administration in 2016 in anticipation of the peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines ( CPP) and the NDF supposed to be held in Oslo, Norway. The negotiations fell through, however.

Galvez said, recently Silva again floated the idea of the alleged Red October plot supposedly being brewed by the CPP.

“If we can see, their target was to enforce this on September 21 and to have a critical mass of 30,000 to 40,000 [people] because we saw there was a positive response coming from the students, to include the teachers and parents and other organizations,” Galvez said in a news conference.

“Their sinister objective is to overthrow the government, so it will continue, so we are trying to continue to insulate vulnerable sectors from them,” he added.

Galvez and Albayalde met at Camp Crame for the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Committee ( JPSCC), which aims to curb terrorism and insurgency in the country as preparations for 2019 elections heat up as the deadline this Wednesday for the filing of certificates of candidacy comes up.

Galvez said the AFP’s collaboration with the PNP also recently resulted in the arrest of five high- ranking communist rebels and two Maute members.

The military and the police added that the JPSCC framework will be applied to the operations being conducted in response to the President’s directive that all agencies of government must work towards ensuring peaceful and orderly 2019 midterm elections.