The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today demanded the police and military forces to immediately release National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Esterlita Suaybaguio who was arrested yesterday in an early morning raid at her apartment in Cubao, Quezon City.

The CPP said the arrest of Ms. Suaybaguio by joint military and police forces was carried out in brazen disregard of her rights under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) signed by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP. According to the NDFP, Ms. Suaybaguio possesses a Document of Identification (DI) with number ND-978447 where she is identified as a consultant for Mindanao concerns.

At the same time, the CPP demanded the release of other NDFP peace consultants Rey Casambre, Vicente Ladlad, Adel Silva, Renante Gamara, Ferdinand Castillo, as well as hundreds of other political prisoners who are suffering from prolonged detention.

The Party denounces the filing of trumped up charges of illegal possession of explosives against Ms. Suaybaguio. The CPP said it holds PNP Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar and AFP Brig. Gen. Alex Luna, who were reported to have led the arrest, directly responsible for the planting of evidence against Ms. Suaybaguio, with the aim of causing her prolonged detention,” said the CPP.

“The arrest of Ms. Suaybaguio is but the latest attack against democratic forces perpetrated by the military and police under Duterte’s undeclared nationwide martial law,” said the CPP. “Ms. Suaybaguio’s arrest again puts to focus the grave abuses perpetrated daily by military and police forces against the people especially in Mindanao under open military rule, as well as in Negros, Samar and Bicol where Duterte has deployed large numbers of military troops,” added the CPP.

“Duterte and his fascist agents are using ‘anti-communism’ and ‘anti-terrorism’ to justify their campaign of suppression against the broad democratic forces which have been actively campaigning against the regime’s brutality, treachery, corruption and oppression against the people.”