CHED chief leaves nabbed sister’s fate to law

FILE: Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Commissioner Prospero de Vera III announces during a press briefing in Malacañang on June 20, 2017 that the P8.3-billion allocation for free undergraduate education is currently being implemented. (King Rodriguez-Presidential Photo)

MANILA – Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson J. Prospero de Vera III on Friday said he will let the law take its course on the charges against his sister who is a suspected communist leader.

In a statement, de Vera, however, wished that his sister Adora Faye is in a safe and good condition while in detention.

“I have not seen her and I have not spoken to her for more than 25 years since she decided to rejoin the underground movement. I do not share her views nor support her actions,” he added.

De Vera, meanwhile, expressed support to the efforts of the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to end the communist insurgency that has destroyed so many lives and property.

On Thursday, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said Adora Faye was arrested at around 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday by members of the Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) in coordination with the National Capital Region Police and the Quezon City Police District in Barangay Teacher’s Village East in Quezon City.

Adora Faye is wanted for multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder charges by the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court Branch 22. She is also facing a separate criminal case for rebellion.

Azurin said the suspect is also involved in the use of explosives, particularly anti-personnel mines that are banned by the Geneva Convention.

Citing the PNP’s records, Azurin said Adora Faye is a staff officer of the general command of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and secretary of the central front of the CPP’s Regional Committee Panay.

She is also the alleged wife of CPP-NPA Central Committee member Jessie Licura alias ’Ren’

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The NDF has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.