Throughout its first year in office, the US-Marcos Jr regime has made clear its blatant contempt for peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

According to a special report published by Ang Bayan last July 24, the regime killed five NDFP peace consultants, forcibly disappeared one and illegally detained two others during this time. At least 15 other peace consultants remain in jail. The killings and incarceration violate the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) which provide protections to peace consultants and other staff members of negotiating panels.

Among those brutally killed by the regime and its henchmen in the AFP are Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, who directly took part in the 2016 peace negotiations under the Duterte regime. Along with eight others, they were “captured, tortured and killed in coldblood” before their cadavers were towed to the sea to be blown up in a fake water interdiction encounter. The Tiamzons held key positions in the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

Three others consultants, all from the Visayas provinces, were likewise killed in coldblood, namely Ericson Acosta, Rogelio Posadas and Manuel Tinio.

In Mindanao, peace consultant Ariel Badiang was reported abducted in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon last February and remains missing to this day.

Two other consultants, Ruben Saluta and Eric Casilao, were unjustly arrested and are currently held in separate jails in Mindanao. Saluta, who was also a participant in the 2016 peace negotiations, is detained with wife, Prestentacion. (CPP Information Bureau)