Press Release: National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Cagayan Valley

Robert Reid | Global Chair FFPS

In a statement by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Cagayan Valley (NDFP-CV), spokesperson Salvador del Pueblo alerted the public that Scarlet Lyne Gayo is a missing staff of their regional public information team who was cornered by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

There are indications that she is being held by the military and pressured to turn against her revolutionary comrades in exchange for the dismissal of several trumped-up charges against her. This clearly goes against her rights to her own political beliefs and to not be subjected to arrest without a warrant from a case filed against her. If there is a case, she should be surfaced in court and her rights as arrested person need to be respected, such as the Miranda rights, right to attorney of her own choice, etc.

This type of fascist violence has been a popular weapon of the US-Marcos regime, as well as previous administrations, and its armed forces in their psywar and all-out counterinsurgency war of suppression against the Filipino people.

The NDFP and the people’s movement in Cagayan Valley and surrounding areas in Northern Luzon, as well as all parts of the country, have long been subjected to fascist terror by the AFP and other armed state forces. Such as the abduction, torture and killing of Ariel Arbitrario in Cagayan Valley on September 11, 2024, as well as the killing of Randy Malayao inside a bus in Nueva Vizcaya in 2019. Both had been NDFP consultants in peace negotiations, carried their document of information under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and as such should have been protected from attacks.

NDFP peace consultants and staff perform important roles in the road to a just and lasting peace. Many of them are leaders and members of mass organizations and unions who are deeply engaged in the struggle for the rights and interests of the masses, and for the people’s desire for national and social liberation. Through this integration they are in the best position to help inform and put forward the people’s demands for a just and lasting peace.

NDFP staff and consultants are spread all throughout the many islands of the Philippines and their role in updating the negotiating panel on the situation of the people, on their needs and demands, is an essential contribution to the peace process. They are the pulse that keep the Negotiating Panel informed of the situation on the ground. Furthermore, they help ensure that the NDFP’s vision advances the people’s agenda for genuine change, and as such contribute to the just and internationally recognized struggle for self-determination.

Under the JASIG, NDFP staff’s safety is to be protected to ensure their full participation in peace negotiations. The abductions, imprisonments, torture and killings of NDFP peace consultants and staff involved in the peace process, are not only a violation of the signed JASIG and a violation of their fundamental rights but also undermine the peace process between the GRP and the NDFP. It means that the Negotiating Panel has less people in the field supporting the panel and representing the demands of the Filipino people.

The abduction and continued disappearance of NDFP-CV staff member Scarlet Lyne Gayo amongst the continuing US-Marcos’ war of suppression represents the insincerity of the GRP in pursuing just and lasting peace.

From previous cases in recent years involving the abduction and disappearance of legal activists and NDFP personnel, it is well documented that victims are regularly subjected to severe physical and psychological torture aimed at coercing them to renounce their comrades and organizations. This heightens our concern for the grave danger now faced by Scarlet Lyne Gayo, who has been missing since December 9, 2025, and underscores the urgency of the situation.