Gov't seeks rearrest of NDFP consultants

MANILA – The government will ask the court to order the rearrest of top National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) leaders who sat as consultants in the failed peace talks, a day after it announced the cancellation of the backchannel talks with the communist rebels.

In a Twitter post, Solicitor General Jose Calida said he will ask the Regional Trial Courts to cancel the bail granted to the NDFP consultants and subsequently order their arrests.

"OSG will ask the courts to cancel all bail bonds of NDF consultants, order their arrests and recommit them to their detention facilities," Calida wrote.

NDF, the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) represents the communist group in the peace talks.

On Wednesday Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza announced the junking of the backchannel talks with the CPP, New People's Army (NPA), and NDF originally set within a few days in Europe "due to recent developments involving attacks done by the NPAs."

Earlier in the day, a fierce encounter ensued between the NPA and the Presidential Security Group in Arakan, North Cotabato. The incident had left a civilian volunteer dead, five members of the PSG wounded and a member of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group abducted.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he had ordered the government negotiators not to resume the formal peace talks with the communists unless its members stop attacking government troops.

Among the NDF consultants who have been released from detention to represent the CPP in the formal peace talks were spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon and former CPP secretary general Adelberto Selva. The Tiamzons and Selva are facing murder and other criminal charges.

NDF legal consultant Edre Olalia, however, said the consultants could not

be rearrested as peace negotiations have yet to be terminated.

Olalia, also the head of the National Union of the People's Lawyers (NUPL) has called Solicitor General Calida's threat to arrest the NDF as "another knee-jerk hardball reaction that does not solve but aggravates the situation."

Asked if the cancellation of the backchannel talks could be cited as basis for the rearrest, Olalia said: "Nope. Peace negotiations are still officially on. No termination yet."

The NDF consultants are protected from arrest under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig), an agreement signed by both panels in 1995.

The guaranteed immunity from arrest and protection given to at least 20 members of the NDF that were released last August will take effect for the whole duration of the peace talks--which aims to end the 48-year conflict between the government and the communist rebels.