MANILA, Philippines – Vicente Ladlad, a consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF), was arrested on Thursday, November 8, for alleged illegal possession of firearms.

According to the police report, a joint team of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) raided the house where Ladlad was staying in Barangay San Bartolome in Novaliches, Quezon City.

Two others, identified by cops as Ladlad’s staff members, were also taken under police custody.

The raiding team said they recovered various rifles, pistols, ammunition, and grenades from Ladlad and his companions.

They were turned over to the Quezon City Police District at around 6 am on Thursday.

In an interview inside Camp Bagong Diwa, Ladlad’s wife Fides said her husband was innocent. She claimed that the firearms were planted as part of the government’s crackdown on communists since the peace talks with communist rebels bogged down under President Rodrigo Duterte.

The NDF is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Phiilippines. – Rappler.com