New People's Army demands immediate release of Comrade Edwin Brigano
By RIGOBERTO F. SANCHEZ
Spokesperson, Merardo Arce Command
NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Operational Command
The New People's Army in Southern Mindanao strongly denounces the illegal arrest of Comrade Edwin Brigano at 3 am, January 1 in Baliok, Bago Gallera, Toril in Davao City.
Comrade Edwin, 53, is undergoing medical treatment for serious respiratory illness, hepatitis and has difficulty walking. At early dawn on New Year's Day, members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police raided the house of his wife's relatives where Comrade Edwin was momentarily staying. He was later brought to the PNP's CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) and later to the 10th Infantry Division-AFP's Camp Panacan in Davao City.
Comrade Edwin's arrest is a blatant display of treachery. It brazenly violated the self-declared ceasefire of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) — an act that could only imperil the GRP-National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace initiatives. The trumped up robbery with homicide charges immediately slapped against Comrade Edwin are lame attempts to justify his illegal arrest that clearly violated the mutual and simultaneous 19-day holiday truce.
The New People's Army demands that Comrade Edwin be immediately released. His treacherous arrest and incarceration only highlighted the non-compliance of the regime's fascist machinery to its own ceasefire declaration.
