A TOP communist guerrilla was arrested in Quezon City in the first swoop on the rebel leadership since President Rodrigo Duterte ended peace talks in November 2017, security forces said Thursday.
Police said they arrested Rafael Baylosis and another armed man, said to be a member of the New People’s Army, on Katipunan Avenue and Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City Wednesday afternoon. Both are detained in police headquarters in Camp Crame.
Baylosis headed the Communist Party of the Philippines during the 1980s peak of the insurgency to overthrow a capitalist system that has created one of Asia’s biggest rich-poor divides.
Police described the 69-year-old as the “acting secretary” of the communist party’s guerrilla wing, the NPA, which the military says has shrunk to 3,800 members from a high of more than 20,000.
Talks to end the conflict, which the military says has claimed 30,000 lives, were conducted sporadically over three decades.
The military said Baylosis was the first high-profile insurgent arrested since Duterte called off efforts to broker a political solution to one of Asia’s longest-running communist insurgencies.
The Palace said the arrest of Baylosis was legal because the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees signed by the government and the communist rebels was no longer in effect after the President scrubbed peace talks in November last year.
Security officials said they were executing an arrest warrant for Baylosis over a series of 1985 purges for which he and several other top rebel leaders were charged with murder.
Baylosis pleaded not guilty to the charge in 2016 and was bailed, after which the rebels said he acted as a consultant in the peace talks.
The communists denounced the arrests Thursday, saying Baylosis enjoyed immunity under the terms of the peace negotiations. They demanded the immediate release of the two men.
Duterte had blamed the NPA for deadly attacks against soldiers and police despite the peace talks. In December, he designated the party and its armed wing “terrorist organizations.”
The election of the self-declared socialist in 2016 initially revived hopes for successful negotiations as Duterte said it was his “dream” to forge peace in the country.
Various leftist groups led by Karapatan condemned Baylosis’ arrest and called for his immediate release in line with the government’s obligations under Jasig.
But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said JASIG was no longer operative because peace talks had already been cancelled.
“Why do they cry Jasig now?” he said.
He also disputed allegations by the managing counsel of the Public Interest Law Center, Rachel Pastores, who said there was no pending arrest warrant against Baylosis.
But Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa said Baylosis was arrested for illegal possession of firearms.
Police confiscated two cal. 45 pistols, 14 bullets, two magazines, cellphones and assorted documents from Baylosis and his companion, a Guillermo Roque.
Police said they were acting on a tip when they made the arrest.
Dela Rosa rejected claims by leftist groups that the government is harassing National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultants.
“There is no politics here. They are enemies of the state and we have to prevent them from just wandering [around], creating problems in the country,” Dela Rosa said.
Luis Jalandoni, senior adviser of the NDFP negotiating panel, said the arrest violated the Jasig.
“President [Rodrigo] 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,” he said in a statement.
Baylosis is a member of the NDFP reciprocal working group on political and constitutional reforms. With AFP
