JASIG CONTINUES TO BE VIOLATED NDFP Consultants Concha Araneta-Bocala and Ernesto Lorenzo arrested

Dear friends,

Please join us in our call to release National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultants Maria Concepcion Araneta-Bocala and Ernesto Lorenzo and for the Government of the Philippines to respect the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and other signed agreements with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Dear friends,

Please join us in our call to release National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultants Maria Concepcion Araneta-Bocala and Ernesto Lorenzo and for the Government of the Philippines to respect the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and other signed agreements with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Maria Concepcion “Concha” Araneta-Bocala, 64, was arrested on August 1, 2015 at her residence in Juntado Subdivision, Calumpang, Molo, Iloilo City by joint forces of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDG) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).

When she was arrested, Araneta-Bocala had with her the NDFP Document of Identification, a document issued to NDFP peace consultants, but this was simply dismissed by the arresting team.

Araneta-Bocala is consultant for Visayas of the NDFP peace panel and a protected person under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) signed by the GPH and the NDFP. She carries with her Document of Identification No. ND978245 under the assumed name “Remi Estrella”, making her arrest a violation of the JASIG.

The arrest was made based on warrants for two murder charges, one in 1987 and one in 1998. Araneta-Bocala was brought to the office of the CIDG at Camp Delgado, Iloilo City accompanied by her nephew Joseph Jed Cariaga and her aide Aneline Soldevilla. Later in the day, Cariaga and Soldevilla decided to leave for home but were prevented by the CIDG because they were required to undergo investigation.

At around 7 p.m. of the same day, the three detainees were brought to the Molo Police station. They were subjected to inquest proceedings at around 8 p.m. with Iloilo City Assistant Prosecutor Leonel Dapat as inquest prosecutor. Araneta-Bocala was charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition for a hand grenade, a 45-caliber pistol, a 22-caliber pistol and several rounds of ammunition, which the police claimed they found in her possession when she was arrested.

Cariaga and Soldevilla were spuriously charged with obstruction of justice. They were subsequently detained at the Molo Police Station lock-up cell. The following Monday, on August 3, Cariaga and Soldevilla were released after they posted bail of Php 6,000.00 each.

On August 6, 2015, Araneta-Bocala was brought to Kalibo, Aklan against her will and without knowledge of her family and counsel, allegedly on the basis of an order of the Aklan RTC Branch 2, which issued the warrant for her arrest. She was brought for detention at the BJMP Jail, Brgy. Nalook, Kalibo, Aklan where she remains at present.

Many ailments beset the 64-year old Araneta-Bocala—from weak lungs because of a history of pneumonia, gastritis, ulcer, recurring lumbar pains due to scoliosis, recurring pain in her left eye which was operated on previously, anemia, vertigo, goiter, and recurring numbness on her legs and feet.

The Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of National Defence listed a Php 7.8 million reward for the capture of Araneta-Bocala.

Ernesto Lorenzo was at the IT Center in Gilmore, Quezon City on July 20, 2015 when he was nabbed by joint elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and members of the military intelligence group. He was on the escalator when two men grabbed him. He shouted to catch the public’s attention but he was immediately whisked out of the building and into a van. He was brought to PNP General Headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City. Ernesto Lorenzo was previously issued an NDFP Document of Identification No. ND 978229 under the assumed name ‘Lean Martinez’.

Almost at the same time, at about 2 p.m., Lorenzo’s wife, Joyce Latayan, was also arrested in their house in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. Latayan was outside the house to meet her daughter Angelica Joyce, 7, who was coming home from school when she noticed two men, in civilian clothes, inside their compound. Other plain-clothed men, who identified themselves as CIDG, went straight to the second floor of their house. When they came down, they were already carrying bags and a box containing weapons, which the police later used as “evidence”.

Lorenzo’s arrest was based on a warrant for destructive arson filed way back in 2010 in Lucena City. Lorenzo is among the “ST 72” or the 72 activists and leaders of people’s organizations in Southern Tagalog falsely charged with criminal offenses by Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG). UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Prof. Philip Alston strongly recommended the abolition of the IALAG and for the halt to the filing of trumped up charges against activists.