ARRESTED. Anakpawis party-list-Cagayan Valley coordinator and fourth nominee Isabelo Adviento (right) is led into a waiting vehicle after his arrest at a fast-food restaurant in Barangay Luyang, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya on Friday night (April 8, 2022). Adviento has a standing arrest warrant for illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives. (PNP-Bayombong photo)
SANTIAGO CITY – The case of Anakpawis party-list-Cagayan Valley regional coordinator and fourth nominee Isabelo Adviento (alias Buting) began with the discovery of firearms, ammunition, and other explosive materials at his house in Barangay Carrupian, Baggao, Cagayan province on Dec. 2, 2020.
Judge Pablo Agustin of Tuguegarao City Regional Trial Court issued an arrest warrant on June 17, 2021 for violation of Republic Acts 10591 (Comprehensive Law On Firearms and Ammunition), 9516 (Illegal/Unlawful Possession, Manufacture, Dealing In, Acquisition Or Disposition Of Firearms, Ammunition Or Explosives), and 8294 (Codifying the laws on illegal/unlawful possession, manufacture, dealing in, acquisition or disposition of firearms), the basis of Adviento’s arrest at a fast-food restaurant in Barangay Luyang, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya on Friday night.
A report of the SMNI News-Cagayan Valley said Adviento heads the Regional White Area Committee under the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
Reports also indicated that the 57-year-old Adviento has ties with Agnes Mesina, the regional coordinator of Makabayan Bloc-Cagayan Valley nabbed for murder in Aparri, Cagayan in February.
She was eventually released after cops learned that the charge against her have been dismissed in 2021. She was implicated in the 2018 killing of Garito Tiklonay Malibato, an indigenous community leader of the Karadyawan group in Kapalong, Davao del Norte.
Joint intelligence operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division of the Philippine National Police-Region 2, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Bayombong police, and allied units served the warrant of arrest against Adviento at about 8 p.m.
No bail was recommended for Adviento, who was brought to the Bayombong municipal jail for temporary custody and will be turned over to the court of origin in Baggao, Cagayan.
Supporters of Adviento claimed the evidence were planted while an Anakpawis statement said the case was “fabricated”.
Anakpawis represents the marginalized sectors of workers, peasants, fisherfolk, national minorities, and urban and rural poor.
It is reportedly an electoral wing of labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno and peasant group Kilusang Mangbubukid ng Pilipinas, both allied with the CPP-NPA.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the NDF as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973. (PNA)
