By Arjay L. Balinbin
A CONSULTANT and peace talks panel member of the communist group National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was arrested last Jan. 31 on charges of illegal possession of firearms.
Rafael Baylosis, who sat at the now terminated negotiations with government as a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Group on Political and Constitutional Reforms, was nabbed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region (CIDG-NCR), police Spokesperson John C. Bulalacao confirmed yesterday.
A companion of Mr. Baylosis, identified as Roque P. Guillermo, Jr., was also arrested.
Mr. Bulalacao said the operation against Messrs. Baylosis and Guillermo was based on intelligence information received by the CIDG last Tuesday, Jan. 30.
“They received information that two suspicious individuals carrying firearms were seen in the vicinity… near the corner of Katipunan and Aurora Boulevard,” Mr. Bulalacao said in an interview with ANC on Thursday morning.
“Dahil do’n (Because of that), they (the CIDG) launched an intel operation and they conducted surveillance. And Jan. 31… at 3:45 in the afternoon, they were able to arrest Rafael Baylosis and Roque Guillermo while they were in possession of firearms,” he added.
In a media statement, NDFP National Executive Committee member Luis G. Jalandoni said that the arrest and detention of Mr. Baylosis was “illegal” and “a flagrant violation of the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG, 1995).”
“President Duterte must be held accountable for this trampling upon a valid peace agreement that 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,” Mr. Jalandoni said.
On the other hand, Presidential Spokesperson Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. said the JASIG is no longer in effect as the government has terminated the peace talks through an order issued late last year by the president.
“Wala namang saysay ang JASIG ngayon dahil wala nang peace talks,” Mr. Roque said at a press conference in Baguio City.
The spokesman also explained that “if there is an existing warrant of arrest or if there is a basis for a warrantless arrest, then they should be arrested… If they think the arrest was illegal other than on the basis of JASIG, they may file a petition for writ of habeas corpus, there is no martial law in Luzon.”
Mr. Roque stressed that “it is President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s duty to implement the law.”
“They (NDFP members) are not exempt from full compliance with our penal laws,” he further said.
Meanwhile, the Public Interest Law Center that serves as counsel for Mr. Baylosis said in a statement that its client “was surveilled and arrested by a joint team of the police and military despite no pending warrant of arrest against him.”
“He had just alighted from a tricycle and was walking along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City, when six men pounced on him and whisked him off in a white van to PNP CIDG-NCR, together with Roque P. Guillermo, Jr.,” reads the statement with Atty. Rachel F. Pastores cited as managing counsel.
“The armed men who took him forcibly and violently did not read him his constitutional rights, or even present him with any charge sheet, contrary to the PNP press release. He was not allowed access to family, lawyers, or even to a phone, until the following morning. In a worn-out attempt to legitimize his arrest, he and Guillermo now face fabricated, trumped up charges of illegal possession of firearms,” Mr. Baylosis’ counsel said.
