Wife of NDF consultant facing arrest posts appeal to police

The wife of a National Democratic Front (NDF) consultant sent a message on social media, pleading for her husband’s safety amid the collapse of the peace process.

Fides Lim, a writer and wife of NDF consultant Vic Ladlad, revealed that her husband has already left their home after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the police to arrest him and other NDF members.

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“Should at any time the PNP (Philippine National Police) arrest Vic, please know that he’s sickly – he’s a chronic asthmatic which has degenerated into emphysema,” Lim said.

“Please don’t hurt him in any way and please recognize his basic rights,” she added.

Lim, in a message shared by human rights group Karapatan, pointed out that Ladlad has been “out in the open,” unlike the NDF consultants recently released by the Duterte administration.

She said Ladlad has been charged with trumped up cases back in 1984 “when he was a political prisoner during martial law.”

“Should you still go to our house to arrest him, please just look for me and I’ll talk to you,” Lim said. “We live with my very old parents who are sickly and very fragile. I don’t want your arresting unit to do anything that will upset or bring harm to them and our family.”

Lim said it is inevitable that there will be “clashes or problems on the ground” as the peace talks between the NDF and the Philippine government were ongoing.

“Why shoot down the whole peace process when he (Duterte) has been the only president to bring the biggest names of the CPP/NDF to the peace table? He should rise above his fits of anger,” she said.

The administration on Tuesday announced that it is terminating the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) with the NDF.

The NDF is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP’s New People’s Army has been waging the longest-running communist insurgency in Asia.