NDF to government: Don’t harm arrested NPA leader

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The National Democratic Front (NDF) has warned the government against harming New People’s Army (NPA) leader Elizalde Cañete who was arrested in a hospital in Bukidnon over the weekend.

“Any harm done to Cañete can have adverse consequences on the efforts of both sides to resume peace negotiations,” NDF peace panel chairman Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement.

 Acgaoili said the government should honor its commitments under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. 

The clergy-led Exodus for Justice and Peace had earlier urged the government to release Cañete on humanitarian grounds and as a confidence-building measure in connection with the resumption of the peace negotiations with communist rebels.

Cañete was arrested at the Don Carlos Doctors Hospital, where he was brought for treatment of  gunshot wounds that he suffered in an encounter with government troopers in Kitaotao town on May 10.