Delfin T. Mallari Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
07:26 AM December 09, 2018

LUCENA CITY — The arrest of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Rey Casambre is another nail in the coffin of the peace talks between the government and the communist rebels.

NDFP chair Fidel Agcaoili said on Saturday that Casambre was the fourth NDFP consultant to be arrested this year.

“The Duterte regime’s unjust arrest of Casambre on ludicrous charges virtually closes the doors to any possibility of resuming the peace negotiations,” Agcaoili said in a statement.

Casambre, 67, and his wife Patricia Cora, 72, were arrested in Bacoor, Cavite, on Friday while on board their car on the strength of a warrant for murder and attempted murder issued by a regional trial court in Lupon, Davao Oriental.

Peace worker

He is also the executive director of the nongovernment Philippine Peace Center, and his wife a translator for the group.

Both suffer from diabetes.

Police claimed they recovered from Casambre a .45-caliber pistol, a fragmentation grenade, detonating cord and several bullets.

“As was done to the other arrested NDFP consultants, the arresting team planted firearms, ammunition and explosives in the Casambre’s vehicle to ensure their prolonged and unjust detention,” Agcaoili said.

The crime of murder is ordinarily nonbailable, unless the court finds weak evidence to warrant prosecution.

Bigger plan

Illegal possession of firearms, however, is ordinarily bailable under Republic Act No. 10591, but the possession of explosives or any of its parts is nonbailable under Republic Act No. 9516.

Agcaoili said three other NDFP consultants—Vicente Ladlad, Adelberto Silva and Rafael Baylosis—were also arrested on similar charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

All of them are still detained pending the resolution of their cases.

Silva was arrested with four others in Santa Cruz, Laguna, on Oct. 15, while Baylosis was arrested in Quezon City, on Jan. 31.

Agcaoili said the arrests were part of a bigger plan to harass people who contributed to the peace negotiations.

The Communist Party of the Philippines said the harassment signified President Rodrigo Duterte’s “worsening fascist clampdown and de facto martial law rule” to suppress opposition groups.

Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Maricar Cinco
Philippine Daily Inquirer
07:03 AM December 08, 2018

CLAMOR FOR PEACE / NOVEMBER 25, 2018
Peace advocates gather at a forum “Clamor for Peace, Defend Human Rights: A gathering calling for the release of detained peace consultants, the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace talks” held in Quezon City. The group wants to strengthen the call for the government to pursue just and lasting peace.
INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

SAN PEDRO CITY—A group of peace advocates described as a “bleak time for peace” the arrest of Rey Claro Casambre, a consultant of communist rebels in peace talks with the government, and his wife on what the group said were fabricated charges.

Casambre, 67, was the fourth consultant of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in peace negotiations to be arrested this year.

He is also executive director of nongovernment group Philippine Peace Center (PPC) where his wife, Patricia Cora, a 72-year-old retired math teacher, is a translator.

Both suffer from diabetes.

Persecution

Bishop Reuel Marigza, of United Church of Christ in the Philippines and also organizer of the group Pilgrims for Peace (P4P), said the only reason he could think of for Casambre’s arrest was “he is being persecuted for his involvement in the peace process by a government that seems no longer interested in peace but only wishes to wage a brutal war against the people.”

“It is a bleak time for peace as a reign of terror is engulfing the whole country with attacks on human rights taking a toll on human rights defenders, community leaders and peace advocates,” he added.

Kristina Conti, of Public Interest Law Center (PILC), said the Casambres were on their way home to Bacoor City, Cavite, when their car was stopped on Molino Boulevard in the village of Niog a little past midnight on Friday.

The couple had come from the wake of geologist Rolando Peña at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City.

Quoting Casambre, Conti said the couple were, at gunpoint, asked to step out of their car as police searched the vehicle.

Police report

A police report said Rey had a warrant for arrest for murder and attempted murder issued by Judge Emilio Dayanghirang III of the Regional Trial Court Branch 32 in Lupon, Davao Oriental.

“Incidental in the service of the warrant of arrest” was the seizure of a .45-caliber gun, a fragmentation grenade, a detonating cord and several bullets, the police report read.

The couple were detained in Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters.

Conti said the recovered firearms were planted.

The PNP, said PILC managing counsel Rachel Pastores, “aids and abets the scuttling of peace talks” by rounding up NDFP consultants, “harassing those involved in peace negotiations and demonizing them unnecessarily.”

Police had arrested other NDFP consultants Rafael Baylosis, Adelberto Silva and Vicente Ladlad.

Rey Casambre was a political detainee in the early 1990s and had been active in back-channel talks with the Duterte administration for a peace pact.

Peace role

Bishop Marigza, in a statement on behalf of P4P, said Casambre’s role in peace talks was just to “rally the participation of the primary stakeholders—labor, peasant leaders, activists and human rights defenders in the discourse.”

The statement said the arrest of Casambre and other peace advocates showed an “intent to silence dissent” and “deprive the people of their capacity to resist government policies that are detrimental to their interests and the interest of our nation as a whole.”

The charges against Casambre, the P4P statement said, “defy common sense.”

Edre Olalia, NDFP legal consultant, said in a statement that the arrest was “predictable, baseless and treacherous.”

Contrived

Olalia said the arrest of the Casambres had again proven that the Duterte administration “cannot be trusted.”

Olalia maintained that Casambre is covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees.

“As contrived as expected, a roving firearm and a rusty grenade were again routinely planted to make the arrest appear aboveboard for good measure,” said Olalia.

“Nobody would ever believe such false narrative,” he said.

“All these would boomerang in the long run,” Olalia added.

Submitted on Sat, 12/08/2018 – 12:10

Another peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was illegally arrested on the evening of December 7, 2018. Peace consultant Rey Casambre, 67, was arrested along with his wife, Patricia Cora Casambre, 72, while on their way home in Cavite. Both were brought to the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City. Rey Casambre is the 7th NDFP peace consultant arrested under the Duterte regime.

Statement of AGHAM
(Advocates of Science and Technology for the People)
December 8,2018

AGHAM condemns the treacherous arrest and continuing unjust incarceration of our fellow S&T and peace advocates Rey Claro Casambre and his wife, Patricia Cora Casambre. The elderly couple were on their way home in the wee hours of December 7th from a tribute paying homage to their friend and fellow scientist for the people Rolando Pena at the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences when they were forced off their vehicle by 11 heavily armed men on 5 separate vehicles. They were slapped with malicious trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, with Rey later outrageously charged with murder, and remain in the custody of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Camp Crame.

Rey and Cora were both scholars of the then National Science Development Board (NSDB) – now known as the DOST – at the University of the Philippines with Cora taking up Mathematics in 1966 and Rey, Physics in 1971. They were also co-teachers at UP Baguio where Cora was teaching Mathematics after previously teaching in UP Tarlac, and Rey was teaching Physics after his time with the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission in Diliman.

Not content with studying and teaching Physics and Math, the Casambre couple were fervent students of the fermenting social realities at the time, and were eager to help enunciate the role of science and technology (S&T) amid a backdrop of a backward and pre-industrial economy. Both were in the first National Conference on the State of S&T in the Philippines held around 1971 in UP Baguio. Rey would be later present in the forum-launching of Luis Jalandoni’s State of S&T in the Philippines in 1997.

At the time of their arrest, Rey and Cora were both tireless workers of the Philippine Peace Center (PPC), where Rey serves as Executive Director. Since the signing of The Hague Joint Declaration in September 1992, which served as the framework agreement on peace negotiations between the Philippine government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Rey has been active in the peace process, and can be seen in different fora and media platforms pushing for the successful continuation and completion of the GRP-NDFP peace talks. In the past year, he has been active in pushing for the signing of agreements under the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms – what could have been a landmark document that would have spelled significant reforms such as agrarian reform and rural development, and the development of Philippine national industries that would vastly benefit the S&T sector in the country.

That is why we find it outrageous that the two steadfast peace advocates are slapped with outlandish charges of illegal possession and murder. Only peace spoilers eager to peddle their fantastic narrative would find logic in the couple having in their possession a caliber 45 pistol with magazine and live ammunition and a fragmentation grenade. It is even more outlandish to believe that Rey is involved in murder more than 1,000 kilometers away in Davao Oriental.

AGHAM joins the calls of fellow peace advocates for the immediate release of Rey and Cora Casambre. We call on the dismissal of their ludicrous trumped-up charges, and urge the Duterte administration to pursue the path of peace instead of harassing, red-tagging, vilifying, and persecuting peace advocates and scientists for the people.##

Arkibong Bayan:  A few hours before they were arrested on their way home, peace consultant Rey Claro Casambre and wife Patricia Cora Casambre had attended the program at UP celebrating the life of S&T friend, Rolando Peña, chair of the Geology Board of Examiners.

Both studied at the University of the Philippines as scholars of the National Science Development Board (now DOST) — Patricia, Mathematics, 1966; and, Rey, Physics, 1971, respectively. Patricia taught Mathematics first at UP Tarlac and later at UP Baguio; Rey, taught Physics at UP Baguio after a short stint at the facilities of the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission in Diliman. Both participated in the first National Conference on the State of Science and Technology in the Philippines in UP Baguio in 1969.

When arrested on the evening of December 6, both have been working at the Philippine Peace Center (https://philpeacecenter.net/). Rey is the Executive Director while Cora works as translator and researcher. They are long-time peace advocates who have closely monitored the peace process between the GRP and NDFP. Rey has been a frequent speaker in many fora organized by groups pushing for the peace talks. He has also granted media interviews on the same issue.

Karapatan Urgent Alert:  Peace consultant and Philippine Peace Center Executive Director Rey Casambre, 67, and wife Patricia Cora Casambre, 72, were arrested last night. The two were brought to the PNP CIDG-NCR Office in Camp Crame, Quezon City. Their lawyers have not been given information on the charges against the couple. #StopTheAttacks

PILC:  The illegal arrest of the fourth peace consultant in 2018, Rey Casambre, together with his wife Cora, by peace spoilers betrays the government’s insincerity in the peace negotiations.

We now fear for the safety of others involved in the peace talks. Among them, clients Alexander and Winona Birondo who were part of the NDFP delegation and whose cases were recently dismissed by a Quezon City trial court. The Birondo spouses have reported intense surveillance and harassment.

By rounding up all peace consultants, harassing those involved in the peace negotiations, demonising them unnecessarily, the PNP exploits their badges as law enforcers, and aids and abets the scuttling of the peace talks. It has become nothing more than an instrument of repression.

Reference:
Atty Rachel F. Pastores, managing counsel, PlLC (counsel for the Casambres)
09279219539

Fidel V. Agcaoili
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
December 7, 2018  Press Statement

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) vehemently condemns the arrest last night of Rey Claro Casambre, executive director of the Philippine Peace Center and his wife Cora as they were on the way home to Molino, Cavite.

Casambre was arrested on trumped-up murder and frustrated murder charges related to an incident in Lupon, Davao Oriental on September 13, 2018. Also in the charge sheet and currently experiencing intense harassment and surveillance are others who have assisted the NDFP negotiating panel in various capacities as resource persons, writers, researchers and staff during the peace negotiations.

As was done to the other arrested NDFP consultants, the arresting team planted firearms, ammunition and explosives in the Casambres’ vehicle to ensure their prolonged and unjust detention.

Casambre is the fourth NDFP consultant active in the peace negotiations to be arrested this year. A long-time peace advocate who has closely monitored and conducted extensive research on the Philippine peace process, Casambre was a frequent speaker in fora organized by multi-sectoral groups calling for the resumption of the peace negotiations. He also often granted interviews to the media on issues related to the peace talks.

The Duterte regime’s unjust arrest of Casambre on ludicrous charges virtually closes the doors to any possibility of resuming the peace negotiations with the Duterte regime. To ensure the smooth resumption of the formal peace talks, the detained peace consultants should be released immediately.#

Press Release
7 December 2018

We are shocked by the incomprehensibly brazen human rights violations that marked the arrests of Rey Casambre and his wife, Cora, as they were heading home last night, December 6, 2018 from a wake.

Casambre is a longtime peace advocate and head of the Philippine Peace Center, an institution committed to peace advocacy. As such, he had significantly contributed to the peace process by way of his incisive analysis of issues surrounding the peace negotiations. He is often a resource person for different media outlets and is a publicly known participant in the peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP.

Delivered in a language easily understood by ordinary people, his contributions to the peace process, has had no other impact but to rally the participation of the primary stakeholders – labor, peasant leaders, activists and human rights defenders, in the discourse.

Thus, we cannot help but believe that he is being persecuted precisely for his involvement in the peace process, by a government that seems no longer interested in peace but only wishes to wage a brutal war against the people.

We find the charges being attributed to Rey and Cora outrageous. Both are senior citizens and are known peace advocates. The so-called charges of murder, frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms are not at all true and defy common sense. We demand their immediate release and a stop to the persecution of peace consultants and activists.

It is a bleak time for peace as a reign of terror is engulfing the whole country, with attacks on human rights taking a toll on human rights defenders, community leaders and peace advocates. The intent is to silence dissent, and thereby eventually deprive the people of their capacity to resist government polices that are detrimental to their interests, and the interest of our nation as a whole. #

Reference:
Bishop Reuel N.O. Marigza, Pilgrims for Peace
<pilgrims.peace.phils@gmail.com > 09283854123

Ronalyn V. Olea – Bulatlat
December 7, 2018

MANILA — Peace consultant Rey Casambre, 67, and wife Patricia Cora Casambre, 72, were arrested along Molino Boulevard in Cavite early morning today, Dec. 7.

Human rights group Karapatan said the two were brought to the office of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region (PNP CIDG-NCR) in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Casambre and the six others were charged with murder, according to a copy of a warrant of arrest furnished by Casambre’s lawyer. The warrant, issued on Nov. 23 by Judge Emilio Dayanghirang III of Lupon Regional Trial Court Branch 32, states that Casambre and the six others ” are said to be found to be in barangay Maragatas, Lupon, Davao Oriental.”

The Casambre couple is also charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The PNP-CIDG claimed that the following weapons were recovered in the couple’s vehicle: one (1) colt commander caliber 45 pistol; one magazine for cal. 45; seven live ammunition for cal. 45; one bundle electric detonating cord; and one fragmentation grenade.

In a Facebook post, Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general said, “Only fools will believe that elderly couple Rey Casambre, 67 YEARS OLD, and Patricia Cora Casambre, 72 YEARS OLD, has the said weapons in their vehicle…”

In a statement, Edre U. Olalia, legal consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel, said the “non-bailable murder charges are trumped-up and sprang out of nowhere.” Olalia added that the roving firearm and rusty grenade were “routinely planted to make the arrest appear aboveboard for good measure.”

“Nobody would ever believe such false narrative,” he added.

Casambre is a publicly-known peace consultant and executive director of the Philippine Peace Center. He is supposedly covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig), a signed peace pact between the Philippine government and the NDFP that provides immunity against surveillance, arrest, among others for those involved in the peace negotiations.

Olalia added that, “their arrest is another signal that the security forces are playing hard ball and are on a wild goose chase. But all these would boomerang in the long run.”

Casambre is the fourth NDFP consultant to be arrested after Duterte declared an end to the peace talks.

Palabay noted that the arrest of the Casambre couple is no different from the arbitrary arrest of other NDFP consultants Vicente Ladlad and the elderly Villamor couple; Adelberto Silva and his four companions; and, Rafael Baylosis in the past months. “All bear the same signs of fabricated charges.”

“Yet, as human rights defenders and dissenters are arrested, plunderers and murderers remain unpunished and are even released from prison,” Palabay said.

Imelda Marcos, who was convicted of graft, was recently freed after posting bail while former Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla has been acquitted by the Sandiganbayan from plunder cases in relation to the pork barrel scam and Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, son of former President Gloria Arroyo, has been cleared of tax evasion charges by the Supreme Court, citing “procedural defects and substantive deficiencies.” (http://bulatlat.com)

Rural Missionaries of the Philippines
November 29, 2018

We, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a national organization of women and men religious, priests and lay, strongly condemn the illegal arrest, detention and the filing of trumped up charges against the delegates of the National Solidarity Mission (NSM) to Talaingod, Davao del Norte. We call for the withdrawal of the fabricated case and the immediate release of the seventy-four (74) delegates including ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro and former Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Satur Ocampo.

The delegation which includes 29 students and 12 teachers of Lumad schools in Davao del Norte were arrested by the joint forces of the Talaingod police and the 56th IB with the Talaingod Municipal Social Work and Development Office and have been detained at the Talaingod Municipal Police Station since 9:30 Wednesday evening, November 28. Based on reports, fabricated charges of “human trafficking in relation to child abuse law” were filed against them.

The NSM wishes to look into the military encampment in the community and school premises which disrupted the classes of Salugpongan Learning Center’s campuses in Sitio Nasilaban and Sitio Dulyan, Brgy. Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte. The NSM also aims to document and validate the reports of threats, harassment, and intimidation against teachers and community members by the 56th IB and the paramilitary group ALAMARA in order to forcibly close the school. They forcibly shut down the campus in Sitio Dulyan on November 28, 2018 at around 6pm and the students and teachers evacuated and were rescued by the NSM team.

We call for the immediate release of the Rep. France Castro, Rep. Satur Ocampo and the rest of the NSM delegates. We also extend our solidarity to our Lumad brothers and sisters in Talaingod and in other militarized communities all over Mindanao. Rural and tribal communities in Mindanao in have long been victims of massive and systematic militarization through various counterinsurgency programs, more so under Martial Law.

We enjoin the Church sectors to denounce this latest attack. We urge you to echo the call for the dismissal of the trumped up charges against our fellow advocates, and to join the struggle against militarization of rural school and communities. Only through a wide-ranging clamor of the public who aspire respect for human rights, justice and peace can we end the fear and uncertainty they live with every day.###

UNTV News and Rescue
Posted on Monday, November 19th, 2018

MANILA, Philippines – The anticipated meeting between officials of the Duterte Administration and some consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is likely to push through next week and the venue is expected to be somewhere in Manila.

In a press statement, Presidential Peace Adviser Jess Dureza said President Rodrigo Duterte has tasked him and Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo to have the “informal chat” with NDF consultants Fidel Agcaoili and Luis Jalandoni.

On Sunday, Dureza left for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly and will return next week.

The two communist officials will arrive later this month in relation to their jobs as members of the Joint Monitoring Committee under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Law.

They will also have a meeting with Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines Bjorn Jahnsen.

Norway has been the third party facilitator of the GPH-NDFP peace process. – Marje Pelayo (with reports from Rosalie Coz)