BREAKING: NDFP’s Fidel Agcaoili dies
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel chairperson Fidel V. Agcaoili passed away Thursday in Utrecht, The Netherlands, the group’s international information office announced.
He was 75 years old.
“The (NDFP) announces with deep sorrow the untimely passing of Ka Fidel V. Agcaoili today, 23 July 2020 at 12:45pm in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He would have turned 76 on 8 August,” it said.
“According to the doctor, the cause of his death was pulmonary arterial rupture which caused massive internal bleeding. It was not Covid-19 related,” it added.
Agcaoili, a veteran member of the Left’s peace panel, took over from his 20-year predecessor Luis Jalandoni on October 5, 2016 before the start of the second round of formal talks between the NDFP and the Duterte government in Oslo, Norway.
As chief negotiator, Agcaoili led the NDFP panel in forging major agreements with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) Negotiating Panel such as free land distribution for poor farmers and national industrialization for the country that may serve as the backbone of comprehensive agreements on social and economic reforms with future Manila governments.
He became a member of the NDFP Negotiating Panel in 1992.
He was also a long-time chairperson of the NDFP Human Rights Committee.
Agcaoili was the longest-held political prisoner under the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship and was released only after the first People Power uprising in 1986.
His remains will be flown to the Philippines in accordance with the wishes of his family, the NDFP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
