NDF asks Noy to free ‘consultants’

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – The National Democratic Front (NDF) is appealing to President Aquino to free its “consultants,” claiming they were listed in the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

NDF political consultant Randy Felix Malayao said Kennedy Bangibang is an outstanding member of the panel of consultants representing the people of the Cordillera region.

Bangibang was arrested at a military checkpoint in Buguias, Benguet in February and moved to Tabuk City Jail to face trial for multiple murder and frustrated murder.

Malayao said Bangibang was moved in haste from his detention in Tabuk City to Baguio City last July 25 on the recommendation of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), which identified him as a “high-risk prisoner.”

Judge Marcelino Wacas of the Tabuk City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 29 ordered Bangibang’s transfer last April, citing the request of Tabuk Jail warden Crispin Dornagon Jr.

Malayao said Bangibang is an NDF consultant on ethnic minority affairs, along with fellow detainee Jovencio Balweg, brother of slain former Catholic priest Conrado Balweg.

Malayao said the government did not accord the protection due  Bangibang as an NDF consultant under the JASIG. Bangibang should be free from surveillance, prosecution and harassment, he added.

Malayao denied that the New People’s Army (NPA) is using the JASIG as a cloak to tag captured rebel leaders as consultants to avoid pursuit and prosecution.

The NPA has nearly 400 partisans identified with the NDF, but only 17 are officially named as consultants, he added.

Malayao said he will file a petition for habeas corpus to compel police in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya to produce anti-mining advocate Bryan Epa, whom they had picked up in Barangay Salvacion last Aug. 21.

Barangay councilman Alfonso Shog-oy said policemen shoved Epa into a patrol car at around 10:30 p.m. along Dumlao Boulevard

Nueva Vizcaya police director Senior Superintendent Valfrie Tabian denied the incident had taken place.

In Ilagan City, Bikas Magtanggol, an Aeta tribeswoman under the custody of the Catholic Diocesan Social Action Center, is still missing after unidentified men took her from her dormitory on the night of Aug. 23, Malayao added.

Magtanggol is facing trial before the RTC Branch 18 for frustrated homicide, illegal possession of explosives and ammunition.

Rights group Karapatan has joined the “Caravan for Peace,” a joint initiative of the Citizens Alliance for Just Peace composed of peace advocates from Pilgrims for Peace, Philippine Economic Peace Platforms (PEPP) and Waging Peace Philippines.

In July, the same organizations issued a joint statement calling for the resumption of peace talks between the government and the NDF on the basis of previous agreements, especially The Hague Joint Declaration signed on Sept. 1, 1992 and the JASIG signed in 1995.