Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LUCENA CITY—The leadership of the communist insurgents is all set to face the representatives of the government for the new round of peace negotiation to end the more than four-decade-old rebellion in the country, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines declared Monday.
“At the moment, the GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] and NDFP [National Democratic Front of the Philippines] sides are determined to hold preliminary talks to pave the way for formal talks in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and other existing agreements,” Jose Ma. Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an e-mail response to an interview sent Monday morning.
To prove their determination to talk peace, Sison momentarily brushed aside the criticisms hurled against him and the New People’s Army rebels. The NPA is the armed wing of the CPP, while the NDFP is the umbrella of communist groups in the country.
“I do not get distracted by comments, innuendoes, spins and suggestions to do away with the peace negotiations,” said the CPP founder who now lives in self-exile in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
“At the moment, the GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] and NDFP [National Democratic Front of the Philippines] sides are determined to hold preliminary talks to pave the way for formal talks in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and other existing agreements,” Jose Ma. Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an e-mail response to an interview sent Monday morning.
To prove their determination to talk peace, Sison momentarily brushed aside the criticisms hurled against him and the New People’s Army rebels. The NPA is the armed wing of the CPP, while the NDFP is the umbrella of communist groups in the country.
“I do not get distracted by comments, innuendoes, spins and suggestions to do away with the peace negotiations,” said the CPP founder who now lives in self-exile in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
He added: “The continuing coordinated propaganda and military attacks on the revolutionary forces and people might be calculated to interfere with the efforts to resume the formal talks next month. But so far the responsible leaders of the GRP and NDFP themselves have decided to carry forward the peace negotiations.”
The government and the NDFP are scheduled to resume formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway, in February. The peace negotiations will be preceded with informal meetings on January 14-19.
As a prelude to the negotiations, both sides observed a 19-day ceasefire that lasted January 3, which was marred by accusations of violations from both the military and the NPA rebels.
The coming peace talks also nearly suffered a snag after the communist leadership demanded the immediate release of captured NPA leader Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara before the start of the negotiation. But the government turned down the demand.
Alcantara, top NPA leader in Southern Tagalog, and comrade Apolonio Cuarto alias “Ka Polly” were captured by government forces in Lucena City last Tuesday.
Last week, chief government negotiator Alexander Padilla disclosed the government plan to propose to the communist negotiators during the informal meeting to observe a ceasefire whenever the two parties conduct peace negotiations.
Padilla maintained that less violence between the government forces and communist guerrillas would enhance confidence between the two panels.
Sison said they had been expecting Padilla’s truce proposal but that they are now warning him not to.
“If he does, that is his own lookout. But I think that he will not force his hand in order to angle for the pacification and capitulation of the NDFP and to replace substantive peace negotiations with prolonged ceasefire talks and the prospect of ceaseless preoccupation with claims and counterclaims of ceasefire violations,” Sison said.
He added: “I do not expect Alex to abandon the substantive peace negotiations in favor of ceasefire talks.”
“Any proposal to frontload the end of hostilities is regarded by the NDFP as a clear attempt to lay aside the need to negotiate first the social, economic and political reforms,” he said.
Sison maintained that “prolonged and indefinite ceasefire without first addressing the roots of the armed conflict through basic social, economic and political reforms to lay the ground for a just peace would amount to mere pacification and capitulation of the revolutionary forces and people.”
The Inquirer asked Sison what the communist insurgents can promise to the Filipino people in the renewed bid to end the rebellion in the negotiation table.
“I do not make promises to the people like those in power who take turns in oppressing and exploiting them,” he said.
“Those who merely doubt, denigrate or even demonize the revolutionary forces of the CPP, NPA and NDFP and the millions of Filipino people in the revolutionary mass movement obviously benefit from the unjust system of oppression and exploitation,” Sison said.
The peace talks between the government and the communist insurgents have been stalled since 2004, when the rebels protested the government's alleged inaction in having them removed from a list of organizations the United States and the European Union consider terrorists.
The government and the NDFP are scheduled to resume formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway, in February. The peace negotiations will be preceded with informal meetings on January 14-19.
As a prelude to the negotiations, both sides observed a 19-day ceasefire that lasted January 3, which was marred by accusations of violations from both the military and the NPA rebels.
The coming peace talks also nearly suffered a snag after the communist leadership demanded the immediate release of captured NPA leader Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara before the start of the negotiation. But the government turned down the demand.
Alcantara, top NPA leader in Southern Tagalog, and comrade Apolonio Cuarto alias “Ka Polly” were captured by government forces in Lucena City last Tuesday.
Last week, chief government negotiator Alexander Padilla disclosed the government plan to propose to the communist negotiators during the informal meeting to observe a ceasefire whenever the two parties conduct peace negotiations.
Padilla maintained that less violence between the government forces and communist guerrillas would enhance confidence between the two panels.
Sison said they had been expecting Padilla’s truce proposal but that they are now warning him not to.
“If he does, that is his own lookout. But I think that he will not force his hand in order to angle for the pacification and capitulation of the NDFP and to replace substantive peace negotiations with prolonged ceasefire talks and the prospect of ceaseless preoccupation with claims and counterclaims of ceasefire violations,” Sison said.
He added: “I do not expect Alex to abandon the substantive peace negotiations in favor of ceasefire talks.”
“Any proposal to frontload the end of hostilities is regarded by the NDFP as a clear attempt to lay aside the need to negotiate first the social, economic and political reforms,” he said.
Sison maintained that “prolonged and indefinite ceasefire without first addressing the roots of the armed conflict through basic social, economic and political reforms to lay the ground for a just peace would amount to mere pacification and capitulation of the revolutionary forces and people.”
The Inquirer asked Sison what the communist insurgents can promise to the Filipino people in the renewed bid to end the rebellion in the negotiation table.
“I do not make promises to the people like those in power who take turns in oppressing and exploiting them,” he said.
“Those who merely doubt, denigrate or even demonize the revolutionary forces of the CPP, NPA and NDFP and the millions of Filipino people in the revolutionary mass movement obviously benefit from the unjust system of oppression and exploitation,” Sison said.
The peace talks between the government and the communist insurgents have been stalled since 2004, when the rebels protested the government's alleged inaction in having them removed from a list of organizations the United States and the European Union consider terrorists.
Delfin Mallari Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
Inquirer Southern Luzon
Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison insisted on Saturday that the captured New People’s Army (NPA) leader Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara was protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig).
In an email from his base in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Sison said that Alcantara was a “holder of Document of Identification (DI) under an assumed name under Jasig”.
He further argued that even without the formal identification card, Alcantara was still guaranteed to enjoy the protection under the accord.
“Ka Bart [Tirso Alcantara] is a duly-authorized person entitled to the guarantees of Jasig for having publicly participated in activities necessary and important to the peace process, such as supervising the release of military prisoners in the custody of the NPA and conducting peace consultations and peace meetings with the revolutionary forces and the people,” Sison, said in a statement sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Saturday morning.
The military said Alcantara had been a member of the CPP Central Committee since 2008 and was officer-in-charge of the CPP national military staff.
He was also tagged as commander of the NPA’s regional special operations group in Southern Tagalog, the guerrilla unit in charge of assassinations and high-level tactical offensives.
Sison, now acting as chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), asserted that Alcantara should also enjoy the full protection under Jasig just like their other consultants (political, legal, military, economic and others) who enjoy the immunity from arrest and harassments from state agents “even if they do not bear or cannot present the document of identification”.
“The Arroyo regime and the military should not begrudge the fact that a few scores of leaders of the CPP, NPA and NDFP are protected by the Jasig. That is something necessary to have an effective network for promoting and carrying out the peace process, especially on the side of the revolutionary forces and people who hunger for a just peace and not for mere pacification to preserve an unjust system,” Sison said.
On Friday, Teresita Quintos-Deles, presidential peace adviser, rejected the demand of the communist leadership that the government immediately release Alcantara.
Deles countered that Alcantara was not included in the list of names of rebel personalities, mostly “pseudonyms”, with immunity from arrest under the Jasig.
She also argued that when arrested, Alcantara should have had in his possession a document that identified him as one of the NDFP’s consultants in its peace talks with the government.
For his part, Luis Jalandoni, NDFP chief peace negotiator, maintained that the continuous detention of Alcantara would not affect the peace talks set next month in Oslo, Norway.
When asked if the government rejection of their demand for Alcantara’s release could affect the direction of the peace talks, Jalandoni replied: “I don’t think so”.
However, he made it clear that the government would have to comply with all past agreements signed by both parties in previous negotiations to ensure that the new round of peace talks would lead to the discussion of more substantial agenda to end the more than 42-year of Maoist insurgency in the country.
“It has been clear from the start that compliance with the JASIG and other signed agreements, like The Hague Joint Declaration and the CARHRIHL [Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law] is a must if peace talks are to advance to negotiations on social, economic and political reforms needed to address the roots of the armed conflict,” Jalandoni said in his emailed response to the Inquirer query Saturday morning.
He added: “The question is whether the Aquino government has the political will to go on this path and will be able to assert its supremacy over some militarist-minded generals and officials.”
Jalandoni also defended the rebel’s use of “assumed names” or aliases in the list that they had submitted to the government in 1996 and 2001.
“It is acceptable practice that revolutionaries use assumed names/ revolutionary names in their political work, including in peace negotiations,” he said in a separate email sent Thursday.
The NDFP official explained that the use of assumed names for purposes of identification was agreed upon by both parties on June 26, 1996 for the security of their comrades in the country who would participate in the peace negotiation.
He said the document of agreement titled "ADDITIONAL IMPLEMENTING RULES PERTAINING TO THE DOCUMENTS OF IDENTIFICATION,” was signed by him and Dee in The Hague.
Jalandoni said “real names” were used for the NDFP panel members and consultants based abroad and “few others”.
Lieutenant General Roland Detabali, commander of the Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command, urged the NDFP to reveal the true names of rebels in the country which were included in the Jasig list.
“They have their true names in Utretch. It will probably take time but it will be to their advantage. It will speed up the identification process and stop the continuous imprisonment of their ‘Jasig-listed consultants,” the Solcom chief said over the phone Friday morning.
Under the Jasig, signed in 1995, members, consultants and staff of the NDFP who are part of the peace negotiating team are granted immunity from arrest, detention and other antagonistic military and legal actions.
The government stopped observing the Jasig following the collapse of the peace talks in 2005 but resumed its implementation on July 17, 2009 as a goodwill measure.
Govt, MILF to resume formal talks Feb 9-10
After concluding informal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur Thursday, the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will resume formal peace negotiations on Feb. 9 and 10.
Chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen said the International Monitoring Team and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group will likely top the agenda of the talks.
"Both parties will resume formal, exploratory talks on February 9-10, 2011. They agreed that the renewal of the mandate of the IMT and the AHJAG will be positively considered in the February meeting," Leonen said in a statement posted on the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process website.
He also said the government affirmed the security guarantees previously agreed on and will issue identity cards to MILF members participating in the talks.
Leonen added the government will "review individually" the cases of 25 such members allegedly in government custody.
As for the issue of facilitation — where government wants the facilitator replaced but the MILF wants retained — Leonen said the Philippines welcomes the Malaysian government's solution.
"It is optimistic that talks will move forward constructively," he said but did not elaborate.
The government delegation in the informal talks included Leonen, panel member Miriam Coronel Ferrer, and head of secretariat Iona Jalijali.
Representing the MILF were panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal, member Michael Mastura and head of secretariat Jun Mantawil.
MILF on Mar as troubleshooter
Meanwhile, the MILF said President Benigno Aquino III's plan to have former senator and defeated vice presidential bet Manuel Roxas II as his chief troubleshooter bodes ill for the peace process.
MILF deputy spokesman Khaled Musa said Roxas, who opposed a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain, has an "innate hatred for whatever is associated with Moros and Islam."
"Roxas is not the ‘troubleshooter’ of Aquino but rather his ‘trouble-maker’ when it comes to the peace process in Mindanao," Musa said in an article posted on the MILF website.
He added Roxas' appointment as troubleshooter may mean Aquino is not really interested to conclude peace with the MILF. — RSJ, GMANews.TV
Chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen said the International Monitoring Team and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group will likely top the agenda of the talks.
"Both parties will resume formal, exploratory talks on February 9-10, 2011. They agreed that the renewal of the mandate of the IMT and the AHJAG will be positively considered in the February meeting," Leonen said in a statement posted on the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process website.
He also said the government affirmed the security guarantees previously agreed on and will issue identity cards to MILF members participating in the talks.
Leonen added the government will "review individually" the cases of 25 such members allegedly in government custody.
As for the issue of facilitation — where government wants the facilitator replaced but the MILF wants retained — Leonen said the Philippines welcomes the Malaysian government's solution.
"It is optimistic that talks will move forward constructively," he said but did not elaborate.
The government delegation in the informal talks included Leonen, panel member Miriam Coronel Ferrer, and head of secretariat Iona Jalijali.
Representing the MILF were panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal, member Michael Mastura and head of secretariat Jun Mantawil.
MILF on Mar as troubleshooter
Meanwhile, the MILF said President Benigno Aquino III's plan to have former senator and defeated vice presidential bet Manuel Roxas II as his chief troubleshooter bodes ill for the peace process.
MILF deputy spokesman Khaled Musa said Roxas, who opposed a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain, has an "innate hatred for whatever is associated with Moros and Islam."
"Roxas is not the ‘troubleshooter’ of Aquino but rather his ‘trouble-maker’ when it comes to the peace process in Mindanao," Musa said in an article posted on the MILF website.
He added Roxas' appointment as troubleshooter may mean Aquino is not really interested to conclude peace with the MILF. — RSJ, GMANews.TV
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