By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Eduardo Serrano passed away in a hospital this morning, as calls for his release on humanitarian grounds remain unheeded by government. He was 62.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Geneve Rivera-Reyes of the Health Alliance for Democracy, said Serrano passed away at 8:10 a.m.
Since Dec. 16, Serrano had been confined at Philippine Heart Center where he was rushed after suffering a heart attack.
Serrano had spent 11 years in prison. He was arrested in 2004 based on arrest warrants for a certain Rogelio Villanueva. He was acquitted of the multiple murder and frustrated multiple murder charges against him in two Quezon City Regional Trial Courts in October and November last year, with the QCRTC Branch 98 judge even ordering his immediate release. The other, QCRTC Branch 100, said the military failed to prove that he was in fact Rogelio Villanueva, supposedly a ranking officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Serrano was still facing charges before Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 96 and 215, which are also based on the Rogelio Villanueva warrants, and are set for promulgation early this year. His lawyer Ameh Sato, in a previous interview, said they are confident that the charges will be junked.
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said, “His plight, and that of many political prisoners, shows us the continuing injustice prevailing under the Aquino regime.”
Human rights group Karapatan has documented 561 political prisoners, 304 of them arrested under Aquino. 
