The Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines condemned the recent abduction of four NDFP peace consultants by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and demanded their immediate surfacing and release.

On 20 March, the CPP reiterated its demand to the AFP 803rd Infantry Brigade to surface and release NDFP peace consultant Edwin Alcid (Ka Veejo) and two other companions. The three were accosted on 8 March in Catubig, Northern Samar and boarded into two AFP helicopters. Ka Veejo, 74 years old, suffers from acute diabetes and had already retired from active service in the Party.

On 17 March, the NDFP in Southern Mindanao Region vehemently condemned the abduction and continued disappearance of Ezequiel “Ka Rey” Cortes Daguman, 50. He was unarmed when abducted by elements of the AFP Eastern Mindanao Command.

Daguman, NDFP peace consultant assigned to Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro, has been reported missing since the afternoon of 7 March while enroute to meet with farm workers in New Corella in Davao del Norte. He had been investigating the workers- and peasant situation in the banana plantations affected by the series of typhoons and heavy rains and the militaristic pandemic lockdowns.

Meanwhile, on 19 March, NDFP Negros vehemently condemned the unlawful arrest of its peace consultant Ramon Patriarca along with two youth peace activists in Himamaylan, Negros Occidental. NDFP-Negros Spokesman Ka Bayani Obrero explained that Patriarca was in the area to conduct an in-depth study on how the Cojuangco estates are circumventing existing agrarian reform laws. The study aims to contribute to the second substantive agenda of the peace talks, the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms.

Earlier, on 24 February, the CPP demanded the immediate release of yet another NDFP peace consultant, Esteban Manuel, Jr., who was arrested 16 February, in Villareal, Samar, by the AFP Joint Task Force Storm, along with another civilian. The CPP denounced the AFP and the Philippine National Police for planting a fragmentation grenade and a cal. 45 pistol and then filing trumped up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against Ka Esteban, who is around 70 years old.

The CPP and NDFP have been emphasizing that the arrests of NDFP peace consultants are flagrant violations of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee, which provides all NDFP consultants, staff and personnel involved in the peace process protection from arrest, surveillance and other similar measures that may hamper their work. The JASIG remains in effect, they said, despite the suspension of formal peace talks, and can only be rescinded by a bilateral process clearly stipulated in the agreement itself.

Philippines human rights alliance Karapatan called on the Duterte regime to surface Alcid and Daguman, and to free Manuel, Jr. and Patriarca. “The attacks on the peace consultants not only spoil efforts to advance just peace but instead perpetuates militarism, violence and injustice,” Karapatan said.