The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) condemned the killing of Ariel Arbitrario, a peace consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) by forces from the 502nd IB. In a statement on October 2, the ICHRP emphasized that this action violates the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) between the GRP and NDFP, as well as international humanitarian laws.

According to reports, Arbitrario was killed in Barangay Baliuag, Peñablaca, Cagayan on September 11 while consulting with farmers. He is believed to have been alive at the time of his capture, was tortured for several days before being summarilly executed. Two Red fighters who were with him were also killed.

“Arbitrario should have been immune from surveillance, arrest, and harm, as he was a holder of Document of Identification Number PP 978542, acknowledged on September 16, 2016 by Silvestre H. Bello III, then chief of the GRP negotiating panel, under the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG),” tne ICHRP stated.

Arbitrario served as an NDFP peace consultant from 2016 to 2017 upon his release in August 2016. He was re-arrested in February 2017 but was granted freedom in March 2017 to participate in peace negotiations in The Netherlands.

Born in Davao in November 1969 to a petty-bourgeois family, Arbitrario studied BS Civil Engineering at Ateneo de Davao University. From being an activist, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1986 and dedicated himself full-time to the revolutionary movement starting in 1988.

ICHRP believes that the Armed Forces of the Philippines committed multiple violations of international humanitarian law through the arrest, torture, and killing of Arbitrario. Adding to the military’s crimes is its refusal to tender Arbitrario’s remains to his family who even travelled from Davao for the wake.

The crime committed by the AFP is further compounded by the explicit praise from its chief, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr, regarding Arbitrario’s killing. “This incident is further affirmation of the verdict by the International People’s Tribunal 2024 which found the US government, and the Marcos and Duterte regimes, guilty of war crimes,” stated ICHRP.