When Maj. Gen. Jose Calimlim and Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado presented him to the media, he looked very pale and haggard and still wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he was picked up. He said he was assaulted, punched in the stomach and dragged from a vehicle to a waiting area. The military claimed that they found a .45 calibre pistol, rounds of ammunitions and various subversive documents in Ladlad's possession. He is being tagged as a Central Committee member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

On the contrary, Vic Ladlad has been working in the open legal mass movement since his release from prison in 1991. He was a member of the National Executive Committee of BAYAN from 1994 to 1998 and a member of the National Executive Board of SELDA (an organisation of ex-political detainees against disappearances and amnesty). Vic Ladlad is a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in its peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). NDFP negotiating panel chairperson Luis Jalandoni has invoked in favour of Vicente Ladlad the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

Ladlad's arrest is in complete violation of CARHRIHL, signed by both the GRP and the NDFP. Likewise of the JASIG issued to negotiators and consultants in the peace negotiations. While the GRP formally terminated the JASIG last 31 May 1999, the safety guarantees in the JASIG were supposed to be binding and effective until 1 July 1999, a month after the NDFP acknowledged the notice. And even after the safety guarantees expire, the immunity guarantees remain binding and effective indefinitely.

Despite a 25 June 1999 court release order, the ISAFP continues to detain Ladlad allegedly for illegal possession of firearms. A new charge was also lodged against him - that of being involved in a recent raid of a New People's Army (NPA) unit in a military camp in the Visayas where 80 high-powered arms were seized by the NPA. A 1991 similar case, which was already dismissed by the court after the evidence guns were found to be planted, was also revived.

Vic Ladlad's wife Fides Lim became worried about her husband's health. Ladlad is suffering from asthma and recurring tuberculosis. He is presently padlocked in a tiny cell without sunning, airing or exercise. The cell is unbearably hot and suffocating and will definitely aggravate his health condition.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) expressed its outrage over this latest attack on the democratic rights of the people. KMU Chairperson Crispin Beltran said the attack was reminiscent of the martial law days, where the military can just arrest and detain any person suspected of being a subversive sans any warrant of arrest. "It's not a far-fetched idea that the Estrada regime will initiate a crackdown against the legal mass organisations such as KMU, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), BAYAN, the League of Filipino Students (LFS), and other militant groups. Estrada knows that there is growing dissent against his inutile administration and the worsening social conditions," Beltran further said.

KMU joins other progressive people's organisations in demanding Ladlad's immediate release. Beltran said that Ladlad is innocent of the accusations and charges being levelled against him by the US-Estrada government. Lawyers Romeo Capulong, Marie Yuviengco and Ed Olalia of the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) filed a motion to cite for contempt Calimlim and Mercado for refusing to implement the release order. The lawyers also filed a petition for habeas corpus compelling Mercado, Calimlim and AFP Chief of Staff Joselin Nazareno to present Ladlad in court and release him from his "continued unlawful detention".

Yesterday, the masses scored victory, albeit a partial one. Vic Ladlad was temporarily released, after his lawyers posted a P 40,000 bail.

After a closed chamber conference, lawyers of Ladlad headed by Atty. Romeo Capulong announced the court's decision to release him. This after finding that the documents submitted by the military was not authentic. Jubilant cheers from families; friends and people’s organisations present at the Regional trial court welcomed the announcement.

Ladlad thanked everybody who aided him and exerted pressures to the government to release him. In a welcome party thrown at the office of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN or New Patriotic Alliance), he described in details how the ISAFP abducted, manhandled and tortured him. Asked what will he do now, he said that while in temporary liberty, he will continue working in human rights organisations, just like the way before he was abducted. Vic will have an arraignment on 12 July 1999 for the alleged case of illegal possession of firearms. Tomorrow, there will be a court hearing on the motion for contempt cited against Mercado and Calimlim.

In a press conference this morning, Ladlad expressed worry "for others who are threatened now with immediate arrest, chief among them are the consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) during the peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the

Philippines (GRP) as well as others whose names are being arbitrarily placed in a so-called military order of battle." The Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) expires today and the government strongly pronounced its intent to arrest and throw into jail NDFP consultants and personnel who allegedly have pending criminal cases.

Incidentally, Rafael Baylosis, political and external affairs secretary of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) is included in the list. He is a consultant of the NDF for social and economic reforms in the scuttled peace talks with the government.

In the same press conference, KMU National Chairperson Crispin Beltran said the organisation will assert the legitimate and legal status of Rafael Baylosis. Baylosis first became involved in KMU in 1993, after he was freed and declared innocent of all charges levelled against him by the Marcos dictatorship. In KMU's 7th Congress held in November 1998, Baylosis was voted in his present position.

"We protest against the resurgence of fascism under the Estrada administration. This bloodthirsty and treacherous regime is searching for reasons to arrest and detain Baylosis and other aboveground NDF consultants like him such as Vicente Ladlad, Raymundo Jarque, and Sotero Llamas and who are protected under agreements forged between the government and the NDF", Beltran added.