Philippines: Demand the release of NDFP peace consultant Porferio Tuna

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Marcos regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the arrest of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Porferio Tuna last October 2 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. We demand that all his rights be respected, including his right to a lawyer of his own choosing, and that he be immediately released.

Tuna served as peace consultant of the NDFP during negotiations with the Philippine government in Norway in 2016. He provided the Negotiating Panel of the NDFP with valuable information regarding the situation of the peasants, plantation workers and minority people in the Southern Mindanao, in order for the NDFP to effectively represent and advance their interests in negotiating and crafting an agreement on comprehensive socioeconomic reforms.

The arrest and detention of Tuna clearly aims to punish him for having served as peace consultant of the NDFP. His arrest is a brazen violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), an agreement between the Philippine government and the NDFP which prohibits either side from committing acts of reprisal against each other’s peace negotiators and personnel. His arrest does not help build confidence in efforts to further peace negotiations.

While in jail, he is being ganged up by military officers as well as by traitors turned military agents, to force him to turn his back against his principles and the people’s national democratic cause. He is being subjected to intense psychological torture, with threats against him and his loved ones, if he does not surrender to the fascists.

The charges against Tuna are bogus, and like the experience of around 800 political prisoners, are concocted with the aim of keeping him in jail for a long time.

We call on all local and international human rights organizations, peace advocates and democratic groups to help secure Tuna’s release, in order to allow him to continue his work as a peace consultant and serve the people, especially the plantation workers and peasants of Davao region.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NDFP