Time for courts to order rearrest of Reds out on bail – Calida

Solicitor General Jose Calida. Presidential Photo

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Friday appealed before various courts to order the rearrest of National Democratic Front (NDF) consultants who posted bail for their temporary liberty after the peace talks with the communist group collapsed.

“Due to the eventual termination of the peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway and the cancellation of the backchannel talks in the Netherlands, the NDF Consultants who were granted conditional release should be recommitted and their respective bonds should likewise be cancelled,” Calida said in a statement.

“The Supreme Court, in several Resolutions, laid down the conditions for the provisional liberty of NDF personalities Satur Ocampo, Randall Echanis and Vicente Ladlad. One of the conditions provides that once the peace negotiations are terminated, their bonds are deemed automatically cancelled,” he added.

“Since all judicial decisions form part of the law of the land, the courts can now issue recommitment orders as these NDF consultants are similarly situated to Echanis and Ladlad.”

Duterte had earlier canceled the peace talks, which was scheduled to resume this August, after a series of attacks by communist guerillas on government troops.

Calida said Duterte’s declaration that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front “is an enemy of the State signifies that any peace negotiations with them have been rendered inutile and therefore must officially end.”

At least 21 NDF consultants, accused of various criminal charges, were released on bail to participate in the peace talks.