ILOILO City – Ranking communist official in Panay Island Maria Concepcion “Concha” Araneta Bocala is hiding in the provinces of Iloilo and Antique, according to the latest intelligence report of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Temporarily released from detention in 2016 to participate in the peace talks between the Communist Party of the Philippines and the national government in Norway, Bocala sought the help of comrades after President Rodrigo Duterte terminated the negotiations 2017, according to Major Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.
The peace talks’ termination also effectively cancelled Bocala’s temporary liberty, he stressed.
The Southern Front Committee (SFC) of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP, took Bocala in, according to Pancito.
The SFC operates in the mountainous towns of Igbaras, Miag-ao and Tubungan in the 1st District of Iloilo and parts of Antique.
“(Bocala) is being coddled by the SFC. Grabe sia magtago. But we will not stop running after her and others who will not surrender,” said Pancito.
Bocala, then 65, was arrested on Aug. 1, 2015 at a safe house in Barangay Calumpang, Molo, Iloilo City for murder and rebellion charges in Aklan and Antique.
That time, Bocala had a bounty of P7.8 million.
So she could join the peace talks the following year, three local courts in Aklan, Iloilo and Antique granted the urgent motions for her release on bail.
Bocala was allowed to post a bail bond of P100,000 for the charges of violation of Republic Act (RA) 10591 (possession of unlicensed firearm) and RA 9516 (possession of explosives) both filed at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 in Iloilo City.
She also shelled out P100,000 bail for each charge of rebellion filed at RTC branches 25 and13 in Culasi, Antique, and another P100,000 for a murder charge before RTC Branch 2 in Kalibo, Aklan.
As peace talks consultant of the CPP – National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Oslo, Norway, she handled a committee dealing with socioeconomic reforms.
In the early 1970s, Bocala was a student activist at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. When martial law was declared, she joined the NPA to fight the Marcos dictatorship.
The CPP had said Bocala should be immune from arrest as she is protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig).
Signed by both the CPP-NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines in 1995, Jasig provides immunity from arrest and other forms of harassment to all participants in the peace talks.
The temporary liberty of NDFP consultants is only for the duration of the peace talks.
Other conditions imposed by the government include returning to the Philippines after the formal peace negotiations in Oslo and reporting to the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Norway whenever required.
The government also maintains that once the participation of the NDFP consultants ceases or the peace negotiations are terminated, their respective bail bonds shall be automatically cancelled./PN
