NDF negotiating panel chair Fidel Agcaoili, 75, dies

FILE: NDF negotiating panel chair Fidel Agcaoili (Photo from Fidel Agcaoili Facebook via PNA)

MANILA – Fidel Agcaoili, the chairperson of the National Democratic Front’s (NDF) peace negotiating panel, passed away on Thursday.

Agcaoili, 75, succumbed to pulmonary arterial rapture, the NDF said in a statement posted on the Facebook account of the self-exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison.

Agcaoili died on Thursday afternoon in Utrecht, The Netherlands where he was exiled.

“According to the doctor, the cause of his death was pulmonary arterial rupture which caused massive internal bleeding. It was not Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) related,” the NDF said.

Agcaoili was supposed to turn 76 on August 8, the NDF said.

The NDF added that Agcaoili’s remains will be flown to the Philippines following the wishes of his family.

Agcaoili took over as NDF chief peace negotiator in 2016 when Luis Jalandoni resigned.

Peace talks between the government peace panel and the NDF, political arm of CPP, were terminated by Duterte in November 2017, following the series of attacks staged by the communists’ armed wing, the New People’s Army, against the government troops and civilians.

In November 2018, Duterte said Agcaoili and Jalandoni sought to return to the Philippines for the possible revival of peace negotiations with his administration.

Agcaoili and Jalandoni had initially eyed to go back to the Philippines but dropped the plan because of alleged threats to arrest them upon their arrival in the country.

In June this year, Malacañang raised the possibility that Duterte might once again open the door to another resumption of peace talks with the communist movement in the future.