Jazmines: My arrest is a sabotage of peace process

A detained Philippine communist leader said Wednesday his arrest on February 14 is a “sabotage" of the ongoing peace negotiations between the rebel group and the Philippine government, since he is a legitimate peace consultant covered by existing immunity guarantees. In his statement emailed to media, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leader Alan Jazmines said he is a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and is covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) that both sides are supposed to observe. “My arrest on the very eve of the NDFP-GPH [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] peace talks by combined forces of the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and PNP [Philippine National Police] is an outright and arrogant mockery and sabotage of the peace process," Jazmines said. “I am a certified JASIG-holder. I have in fact turned over to my lawyer the details of my JASIG authorities and we can even have those details disclosed to the public in order to prove it," he added. Jazmines, currently detained at the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame, Quezon City, said the government has been refusing to release 14 other NDFP peace consultants and their staff, in violation of the JASIG. He demanded that “the issue of JASIG violations by the GPH" be resolved first before proceeding to other agenda. “Otherwise, any further agreements supposed reached in the peace talks and in fact, the whole peace process becomes only a laughing stock," he added. Jazmines, long known among Marcos-era activists as a capable Leftist organizer and administrator, served as secretary general of the defunct Partido ng Bayan during the early years of the Corazon Aquino presidency. Military intelligence believes he was a member of the CPP’s top leadership when he was arrested on Monday in Baliuag, Bulacan, on the eve of the resumption of peace talks on February 15 in Oslo, Norway. (See: AFP declares ceasefire for peace talks with NDF) NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni earlier demanded the release of Jazmines as he was an NDF peace consultant and covered by the JASIG. "It is imperative that Jazmines be released immediately and unconditionally so that there will be no disruption of the formal peace talks," Jalandoni said. (See: NDF demands release of CPP leader Jazmines) AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta, however, said that Jazmines' pending cases in courts should also be considered apart from his supposed JASIG coverage. The rebel leader was arrested by virtue of warrants of arrest issued in Lucena City and Calauag, both in Quezon provinces, for rebellion and murder, according to the AFP. Another 'CPP leader' was Collegian editor Apart from Jazmines, the Philippine Army earlier arrested Ericson Acosta, another suspected CPP leader, in San Jorge town in Samar. (See: Army: Another CPP official in govt hands) In a text message to reporters, Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz identified the rebel leader as Ericson Legaspi Acosta alias Augusto Lim, reportedly the new deputy secretary for Samar, which is under the CPP’s Eastern Visayas Regional Committee. Ortiz said Acosta, 37, was nabbed by operating troops of the 38th Infantry Battalion around 10 a.m. last Sunday in Barangay Bay-ang in San Jorge town in Samar. The Army reported the arrest only on Wednesday. A Facebook post circulating among activist circles as of posting time called for the “immediate and unconditional" release of Acosta, described as a “poet and activist for the people." According to reliable sources, Acosta was involved in the radical student movement in the University of the Philippines Diliman during the early 1990s as a member of a cultural group, and also served for a time as editor of the Philippine Collegian, the student publication of UP Diliman. “Human rights groups are now working to see him. His safety must be assured and his rights should be respected," the sources said.—JV, GMA News