Lagman freed

By Sonny Melencio

MANILA -- Filemon Lagman, the underground leader of the Manila Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was released from detention on bail of 100,000 pesos on the evening of June 17. Lagman had been under detention for 23 days on a warrant for an alleged kidnapping in 1988. Lagman went underground in 1972, when martial law was declared under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

The release coincided with a new round of peace talks between the wing of the CPP led by Jose Maria Sison, who is based in the Netherlands. Prior to Lagman's release there had been a series of rallies initiated by the mass movements and pressure by a broad coalition of forces organised in the Free Lagman Movement which pressed for his release.

The coordinating body of the Free Lagman Movement included popular left-wing figures such as Renato Constantino Jr, one of the central organisers of the Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor which was recently held here. Another central figure in the campaign was Congressman Edcel Lagman, who was responsible for winning majority support (144 out of 210) in the Congress calling for Lagman's release.

The Manila Regional Committee of the CPP has indicated its willingness to hold exploratory peace talks with the government regarding the possibility of a political settlement between the Alex Boncayao Brigade (the partisan wing of the group) and the government.

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