The acquittal of retired military officer Jovito Palparan over the kidnapping of and torture of two farmers have dampened prospects of resuming peace talks between the government and communist insurgents, the National Democratic Front (NDF) said on Saturday.

Julie de Lima, interim chairperson of the NDF’s peace negotiating panel, said the dismissal of the charges against Palparan by Malolos City, Bulacan Regional Trial Court Branch 19 Jude Francisco Felizmenio is counter to every principle of human rights and international humanitarian law.

“Prospects to resume the peace talks become less clear as the GRP

continues to demonstrate its flagrant disrespect for the basic principles of justice by allowing criminals like Palparan to run free with impunity,” De Lima said in a statement. Talks have been suspended since November 2017.

The court dismissed the charges filed by brothers Reynaldo and Raymond

Manalo against the retired Army major general.

The siblings were seized after they were suspected to be communist

rebels. They escaped on August 2007.

Palparan and his two co-accused remains jailed at Bilibid, serving up to 40 years for kidnapping and serious illegal detention of two UP students in 2006. They were convicted in 2018 and their sentence was affirmed by the Court of Appeals in 2022. DMS