The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) refuted on Thursday, Dec. 1, the claim of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) that one of its peace consultant and his companion were captured and later killed by soldiers in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental.
In a statement, Lt. Col. Magno Mapalad, chief of the Public Affairs Office of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, said Ericson Acosta and another communist rebel were killed in one of the two firefights in Barangay Camansi early morning on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
Based on the report, soldiers first clashed with 10 communist rebels and the cadavers of Acosta and another communist rebel were discovered in the second clash site which is some 100 meters away from the first site of the encounter in Sitio Makilo in the same barangay.
"The undeniable fact is that Ericson Acosta and his comrade engaged the army troopers in an encounter. It is unfortunate that they were neutralized in the said encounter," said Mapalad.
Mapalad also rejected the argument raised by the spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-NDF (CPP-NPA-NDF) that Acosta is a consultant working on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social Economic Reforms, or CASER.
CASER is a socio-economic reform framework being pushed by the NDF for a peace agreement between the communist rebels and the government when then president Rodrigo Duterte opened the peace talks anew. Duterte later rejected the peace agreement.
But Mapalad said the military and the Philippine government do not recognize CASER.
"The CASER that they speak of is non-existent. The Philippine government is not engaged in any form of peace negotiations with the CPP-NDF-NPA terrorist organization nor does this government intend to negotiate with the CPP-NDF-NPA in the future. The government does not give scant attention to the CASER nor does it recognize the existence of any consultant of the NDF," said Mapalad.
"As far as this government is concerned, the CPP-NDF-NPA is a terrorist organization along with their members who espouse the ideology of violence, extortion, and dual tactics to overthrow the government," he added.
Mapalad said the claim that Acosta was a consultant for CASER is a lie.
"Other than this, the CPP-NDF-NPA must stop hallucinating on their CASER and its consultants," Mapalad insists.