MANILA, Philippines — The National Democratic Front cannot invoke the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees to protest the arrest of its consultant Rafael Baylosis because the peace talks have been terminated, Malacañang said Thursday.
Baylosis and his companion Guillermo Roque were nabbed at the corner of Aurora Boulevard and Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City last Wednesday, the first communists to be captured since President Rodrigo Duterte declared the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army as terrorist groups.
The CPP is the political arm of the communist movement while the NPA is its armed wing. The NDF represents the CPP and the NPA during peace negotiations with the government.
Authorities recovered two cal. 45 pistols, 14 ammunition and two magazines from the two. The NDF has condemned the arrest, saying it violated the JASIG, a 1995 deal that bars the arrest and detention of rebels working as peace consultants.
But presidential spokesman Harry Roque maintained that the JASIG is no longer operative because Duterte has scrapped the peace talks with the communists.
"The JASIG is useless now because there are no more peace talks. Why are they citing JASIG now?" Roque said in a press briefing in Baguio City.
READ: NDFP denounces illegal arrest of consultant
Roque also denied that the arrest violated the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
"If a person is facing charges, if he has a warrant of arrest, he has to be arrested. If he is not arrested, it would constitute a dereliction of duty," the presidential spokesman said.
"If they think the arrest is illegal other than on the basis of JASIG, they can file (a petition for writ of) habeas corpus. After all, there is no martial law in Luzon," he added.
Roque stressed that the communists are to blame for the collapse of the negotiations.
"They are to blame because while they are talking peace, they continued to kill soldiers. They are not exempt from full compliance with our penal laws," he said.
READ: Duterte 'sabotaged' peace talks, claims Joma Sison
Last November, Duterte terminated the peace talks with the communists, saying the rebels were after a coalition government, a set-up that he claimed would force him to "share" the Philippines' sovereignty.
He also chided the communists for staging attacks that harmed civilians and for extorting money from businesses. In December, Duterte issued a proclamation classifying the CPP and NPA as "terrorist organizations."
The president has said he would no longer talk to the communists, whom he said are preventing the country from becoming prosperous.