THE rearrest of a National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant was not illegal, Malacañang said on Thursday, February 1.
NDFP consultant Rafael Baylosis was rearrested Wednesday, January 31 at the corner of Aurora Boulevard and Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. justified Baylosis' arrest, saying that failure to do so would mean a "dereliction of duty."
"If the person (Baylosis) is facing charges, or if there's a warrant of arrest against him, or if there's a basis for warrantless arrest, he should really need to get arrested," Roque told reporters in Baguio City.
"If he's not arrested, there will be a dereliction of duty," he added.
Baylosis is the first NDFP consultant arrested since President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the termination of peace negotiations with the communists and labeled the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People's Army (NPA) as a terrorist group.
The NDFP and NPA are CPP's political and armed wings, respectively.
Duterte had ordered the temporary release of detained NDFP personnel for the resumption of peace dialogue but he was prompted to scrap the moribund peace talks of the NPA members' lack of sincerity as it continues to attack government troops amid the negotiations.
Following the termination of talks, Duterte had directed the rearrest of NDFP personnel who were set free for the peace deal.
NDFP senior adviser Luis Jalandoni said Baylosis' arrest as a "flagrant violation" of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, a 1995 peace pact between the NDFP and the government.
Jalandoni cited that Jasig "assures all consultants and those participating in peace negotiations immunity from surveillance, harassment, search, arrest, detention, prosecution and interrogation or any other similar punitive action."
He also stressed that the government should respect "binding peace agreements," such as Jasig and Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIL).
Roque claimed that Jasig was now deemed "ineffective" since the peace talks had already been terminated.
"The Jasig is already ineffective since there are no peace talks already. Why do you have to insist (that it's a violation of) Jasig? Second, why did we violate CARHRIL? He's arrested. CARHRIL (is about) human rights and humanitarian law," he said.
"It is the President's mandate to implement the law. And since peace talks no longer exist -- and they are to blame because they continue to kill soldiers while the negotiations are ongoing -- they are not exempt from full compliance with our penal laws," Roque added. (SunStar Philippines)