FIRST TO FALL Ariel Arbitrario (left), shown in photo chatting with a fellow peace consultant to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, Eduardo Genelsa, at the NDFP office in Utrecht, The Netherlands, was arrested at a checkpoint in Toril District, Davao City. —KARLOS MANLUPIG
Soldiers arrested a peace consultant to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Davao City on Monday even as communist rebels sought the resumption of talks.
The arrest came two days after President Duterte terminated peace talks with the NDFP, political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
NDFP consultant Ariel Arbitrario and his driver, Roderick Mamuyac, were arrested by members of Task Force Davao at a checkpoint in Sirawan, Toril District, Davao City. They were turned over to the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
Arbitrario was arrested in Tagum City in Davao del Norte province in February last year, but the city’s Regional Trial Court Branch 3 approved his release on bail, along with another NDFP consultant, Eduardo Genelsa, on Aug. 17 last year.
The President on Friday lifted the government’s six-month-old ceasefire with the rebels and on Saturday, he scrapped the talks.
He demanded that rebel leaders, who were temporarily freed to join the negotiations as consultants, go back to jail, threatening to have them arrested if they refused.
The President’s moves came after the guerrillas abandoned their own truce and killed six soldiers and kidnapped two others in fresh violence.
The government and the rebels separately declared a ceasefire last year to encourage peace talks, which had steadily progressed in recent months before rapidly deteriorating in recent weeks.
The NDFP accused the military of violating the government’s own ceasefire by deploying troops to about 500 villages across the country and continuing counterinsurgency operations like surveillance that it said inevitably led to new fighting.
Before Arbitrario’s arrest, the CPP had expressed concern over Mr. Duterte’s threat against NDFP peace consultants.
Luis Jalandoni, an adviser to the NDFP negotiating panel, said the 17 freed rebels were protected by a 1995 accord under which the government agreed to grant them immunity from arrest while serving as peace talks consultants.
All the rebels have returned to the Philippines after joining a recent round of talks in Rome and should not be arrested, he said.
‘Spoiled brats’
Told that Jalandoni was insisting that NDFP consultants were protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig), the President said: “I am not his client. I don’t take any orders from anybody.”
“I tried my best to make peace with everybody. These communists, they are spoiled brats. It’s as if they are in the government when they make demands,” he added.
Mr. Duterte, who called the CPP a “terrorist” organization, then conceded that he could not fulfill his campaign promise to end the communist rebellion during his six-year term.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it had yet to receive a copy of the President’s official order for the arrest of NDFP consultants.
Col. Edgard Arevalo, chief of the AFP public affairs office, said the arrest of Arbitrario and Mamuyac on Monday had nothing to do with the President’s order.
Mamuyac has a standing warrant of arrest on murder charges issued by Judge Virginia Tehano of a Davao court, according to Arevalo.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the government should not just arrest NDFP consultants, as there were processes on bail and Jasig that had to be followed first.
But Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the bail granted to the NDFP consultants was not “indefinite” because it was good for only six months to one year.
“Unless they get a renewal for their bail, they will be considered wanted persons,” Aguirre said.
Formalize suspension
The justice secretary said the arrests would be made only after Mr. Duterte had formalized the suspension of peace talks. “Once it has been established that there is no more peace talks and they are back here, they will be arrested,” he said.
Aguirre said the government would ask the court if the NDFP consultants had violated the terms of their bail, which would mean they could be arrested without making any motion to lift their bail.
Mr. Duterte’s sudden termination of the talks will take effect only one month after serving a written notice to terminate the process, as previously agreed upon by both sides, according to Jalandoni.
This meant that NDFP holders of safe conduct under Jasig could not be arrested and detained anew during this period, he said.
Spur of the moment
The CPP said Mr. Duterte’s statement scrapping the talks might be a spur of the moment decision without considering the many gains achieved after the resumption of the negotiations.
“His decision was made clearly without judicious consideration of the advice of his peace panel, and coming at the heels of a successful third round of peace talks in Rome, Italy, just over a week ago,” the CPP said.
Even with the gloomy situation, the CPP said it was hopeful that both negotiating panels would meet again this month.
Both parties agreed during the third round of talks in Rome last month that they would meet again in The Netherlands on Feb. 22-24 to discuss the crafting of a bilateral ceasefire agreement and on April 2-6 for the fourth round of talks.
Expected in the fourth round of talks are agreements on major points that will clear the way to the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms.
“We’re saying the peace talks are still possible in the absence of a ceasefire,” Jalandoni told radio dzMM by telephone from Europe.
Humps, curves, detours
Despite his tough stance, the President on Saturday said that he may reconsider his decision if there was a compelling reason.
His adviser on the peace talks, Jesus Dureza, suggested on Sunday that the President’s decision may still change.
“As I always say, the road to just and lasting peace is not easy to traverse. There are humps and bumps, and curves and detours along the way,” Dureza said in a statement.
On Monday, Mr. Duterte said the government peace panel would not return to the negotiating table anytime soon as he had “entirely scrapped” the peace talks.
“I don’t want being played around,” he told reporters. —REPORTS FROM GIL C. CABACUNGAN, VINCE F. NONATO, JULIE M. AURELIO AND AP