2 NDFP peace consultants missing in Kidapawan

DIGOS CITY — Two consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) for the peace negotiations with the government have been reported missing for a month now, raising suspicion among their colleagues that the military is behind their disappearance.

Marcella Arsenio, spokesperson for the NDFP-Far South Mindanao Region (NDFP-FSMR), said couple Lora Manipis and Jeruel Domingo “vanished without a trace” on Feb. 24 in Kidapawan City, where they arranged activities related to calls for the resumption of the government’s peace talks with the NDFP.

President Rodrigo Duterte terminated the peace negotiations last year and issued an executive order declaring the communist rebels terrorists.

But last week, the President made a turnaround and declared he was once again open to talking peace with the communist insurgents to end their decades-long armed struggle.

‘Propaganda’

Arsenio said government intelligence agents had been casing Manipis and Domingo for the past two years. She said that at one point, intelligence agents had “interrogated” Manipis’ daughter about her parents.

But Maj. Gen. Noel Clement, commander of the 10th Infantry Division, denied that Manipis and Domingo were in military custody. He said the claim of the NDFP-FSMR was part of the group’s “propaganda.”

Clement challenged the rebels to file a case of kidnapping against the military.

Arsenio said Manipis, before becoming an NDFP consultant, spent a decade with the New People’s Army (NPA) in Southern Mindanao, mainly as mass organizer. Domingo was also an NPA commander in South Cotabato. —Reports from Eldie Aguirre and Nikko Dizon