The National Security Council (NSC) dismissed the claim of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that its acting chairman, Wigberto Villarico, shall be immune from arrest since he is supposedly a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF).
“We find as funny and preposterous the claim of the CPP – NPA (New People’s Army) – NDF that CPP Chairman Baylon Villarico is a ‘peace consultant’ and is therefore immune from arrest under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) signed way back during the Fidel Ramos administration,” said NSC spokesperson Jonathan Malaya in a statement Saturday, Oct. 26.
Villarico, 68, was arrested in Fairview, Quezon City on Oct. 24 on the strength of a warrant of arrest for two counts of kidnapping with murder. Villarico was tagged as one of the suspects in the kidnapping and murder of two individuals back in 2007 in Brgy. Cagsiay, Mauban, Quezon Province.
According to the NSC, Villarico replaced the late Benito Tiamzon as the leader of the CPP when the latter died in a military encounter in Samar on Aug. 22, 2022.
The CPP condemned “in the strongest terms” the arrest of Villarico as it insisted that he is a peace consultant of the NDF and, therefore, protected by the JASIG, an agreement between the Philippine government (GRP) and the NDF signed on Feb. 24, 1995 which provides safety and immunity guarantees that protect the rights of negotiators, consultants, staffers, security and other personnel who participate in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
“Being a peace consultant of the NDFP, Villarico is protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). He holds documents identifying him as such. Under the JASIG, the Philippine government agreed not to subject consultants, personnel, and staff members of the NDFP to surveillance and arrest,” CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena said.
But the previous Duterte administration terminated the JASIG in February 2017 when the peace talks by the government with the CPP collapsed.
“So what immunity under the JASIG are they talking about?” Malaya asked.
According to Malaya, the Joint Oslo Communique signed by the Marcos Jr. administration and the NDF in November 2023 to resolve the roots of the armed conflict and end the armed struggle being waged by the CPP-NPA-NDF “did not resurrect the JASIG.”
“The JASIG is as good as dead,” he noted.
The NSC spokesman reiterated that Villarico was arrested based on a warrant of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court of Mauban, Quezon for his crimes.
He accused Villarico of being responsible for numerous atrocities including “against government forces, killing and liquidation of individuals, terrorist attacks on innocent communities, sabotaging government projects, and various extortion and money-making activities in Southern Luzon.”
Villarico also allegedly led violent purges within the CPP-NPA Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee in the 1980s “where many were executed by his own hands.”
“The CPP-NPA-NDF wants him to get away with murder because he’s a peace advocate? Not so fast. It is time for him to face the court of law and to account for his crimes to the Filipino people,” Malaya said.
Meanwhile, the CPP demanded that Villarico’s rights shall be respected, that he be immediately released, and al “trumped up” charges against him be immediately withdrawn.
They also asked that Villarico shall be be accorded his right to his own lawyer, and to a doctor of his choice as he is purportedly suffering from various ailments including spondylitis, hypertension, heart arythmia, asthma, and prostate enlargement among others.