DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A peace consultant for the National Democratic Front (NDF), Ariel Arbitrario, who joined the movement in Davao, was killed on September 11 in Cagayan Valley.

While the military announced that Arbitrario was killed in an encounter with troops, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) claimed Arbitrario was earlier captured, tortured then shot dead.

Arbitrario was a participant to the peace negotiations between the NDF and the Philippine government from 2016 to 2017.

The CPP in a statement said that Arbitrario was killed with two of his comrades in Peñabalanca, Cagayan Valley. The other victims were Danielle Marie Pelagio and Erin Sagsagat. 

The statement said that the three were part of a squad that were overpowered by government troops outside the community, it said Arbitrario was conducting consultations and meetings with farmers.

But the CPP believed Arbitrario was captured alive and held for at least a day where he was tortured before being summarily executed. The group said they had reports that Arbitrario’s gunshot wounds indicate that he was shot at close range.

“The CPP condemns in the strongest possible terms the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), particularly the 5th Infantry Division and the cold-blooded fascist killers of the 502nd Brigade, for war crimes in the killing of three hors de combat Red fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA),” the group added.

A report from Kodao Productions said members of the 5th Infantry Division is preventing Arbitrario’s remains as of September 18.

“Despite acknowledging Arbitrario’s killing, the AFP has yet to release his remains,” the CPP said, as it urged the families of victims to seek autopsies to determine the real cause of deaths.

Arbitrario was a civil engineering student in Ateneo de Davao University before joining the New People’s Army in the 1990s.

He was first arrested in February 2016 but was released on the same year to join the peace negotiations in Norway that was resumed then during the Duterte administration.

READ: Court releases 2 NDF consultants in Davao to join peace talks

He was re-arrested in a military checkpoint in Davao on February 2017 during the suspension of the talks, but was released a month later to join the fourth round of the formal negotiations.

After the termination of the peace negotiations by Duterte in 2018, several consultants of the NDF had been murdered.

The CPP said that under the GRP-NDF Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), members of the peace negotiations and consultants including Arbitrario are supposed to be immune from surveillance, arrest and harm. (davaotoday.com)