NDFP condemns PNP for calling alleged NPA leader Casilao ‘terrorist’
PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (Photo from the PNP Facebook page)
MANILA, Philippines — The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) condemned on Tuesday the Philippine National Police (PNP) for calling the alleged top-ranking New People’s Army (NPA) leader Eric Jun Casilao a “terrorist.”
In a statement, the negotiating panel of the NDFP said presenting Casilao as a terrorist was unacceptable, “a violation of basic human rights and international humanitarian law” and “shamelessly inhuman.”
“Only real terrorists parade their captives in public for humiliation and ignominy that is a throwback to the dark ages of uncivil conduct,” the NDFP said.
“He has the universal right to be presumed innocent until his case is heard in an impartial court of law under due process. He has the right to legal counsel and other basic civil rights that should be observed by civilized systems,” it added.
On April 17, Casilao was deported to the Philippines after authorities collared him at Jeti Point International Clearance Gate in Langkawi, Malaysia, on April 1.
The Philippine Army said that Casilao was collared after attempting to board a ferry bound for Koh Lipe in Thailand with a fake passport and was put on the Malaysian Red Notice List “for falsification of passport by assuming a fake identity.”
According to the NDFP, Casilao is its consultant for the Reciprocal Working Committee on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms in Southern Mindanao.
The NDFP’s negotiating panel “demands that his life, security, and safety are also guaranteed in compliance with the binding mandates of the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees and the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.”
