GRP is undermining the peace process, violating the basic principles of mutual respect and accountability, an NDFP article says.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel challenged the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) to restore trust in the peace process, or efforts to resume formal negotiations may eventually collapse.
The killings and arrests of NDFP peace consultants as well as the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government’s war crimes against the Filipino people are stumbling blocks to the ongoing dialogues, an article on NDFP’s international magazine said.
“Appallingly, despite the determination of the NDFP in pursuing peace talks, the GRP has been pushing it again to the brink of collapse with the continued attacks on NDFP peace consultants and violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL),” a December 30 article on Liberation International reported.
Both the NDFP and the GRP simultaneously announced on November 2023 the holding of dialogues to try to revive formal negotiations that the Rodrigo Duterte government walked away from in 2017.
Despite several reported dialogues between Marcos Jr. emissaries and the NDFP throughout 2024 however, no agreement had apparently been reached towards formal resumption.
‘Stop killing consultants’
The Liberation International article said the 2024 killings of NDFP consultants Ariel Arbitrario, as well as Concha Araneta-Bocala, as well as the recent arrests of consultant for the Cordilleras Simeon Naogsan, consultant for Southern Mindanao Porferio Tuna, consultant for Southern Tagalog Wigberto Villarico and consultant for Panay Island Tomas Dominado have subverted the essence of the dialogues.
The NDFP also blamed the Marcos Jr. government for the brutal deaths of NDFP peace panel member Benito Tiamzon and consultant Wilma Austria a mere month after it took power in August 2022.
The Marcos Jr. government continues to hold in detention peace consultants Vicente Ladlad, Adelberto Silva, Loida Magpatoc, Renante Gamara and Frank Fernandez who were arrested under the Duterte regime.
The NDFP also pointed out that peace consultants Randy Malayao, Randall Echanis, Rogelio Posadas, Ericson Acosta, and Pedro Codaste were killed in succession after formal negotiations collapsed, the article pointed out.
Several other NDFP peace consultants have also been killed, such as Agaton Topacio, Eugenia Magpantay, Julius Giron, Menandro Villanueva, Jorge Madlos, Reynaldo Bocala, Rustico Tan, Antonio Cabanatan, Florenda Yap and Ezequiel de Guzman.
The article stressed that the repeated arrests, torture and killings of NDFP consultants under Marcos Jr., despite their protected status under Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), represent a “deliberate act of bad faith by the GRP.”
“These consultants have dedicated their lives to representing the Filipino people’s interests and are integral in the resumption of peace negotiations. Their unlawful arrests serve only to foster growing distrust and heightened tensions at a time when space for dialogue is critical,” it said.
Respect JASIG, IHL
The NDFP has fiercely defended the continuing legitimacy of the JASIG despite repeated efforts by the GRP military and several Manila government peace panel members to dismiss the agreement signed in February 1995.
“JASIG explicitly guarantees safety and immunity for both GRP and NDFP consultants, resource persons, and staff involved in the peace negotiations, protecting them from arrest and persecution. By repeatedly violating these protections, the GRP has disregarded its own commitments and continues to push the ongoing talks to the brink of collapse,” the article said.
“It is unacceptable that while the GRP claims to pursue peace, it simultaneously targets and imprisons those working to achieve it,” it added.
Liberation International stressed that the grave GRP violations of the JASIG as well as the IHL demonstrate its lack of respect for the lives and freedoms of those working for a just resolution to the armed conflict.
Manila’s IHL violations include the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ “fascism and militarization” that victimize peasants and civilians in the countryside, despite its supposed declaration to a “peaceful resolution” of the armed conflict.
“The on-and-off character of the peace talks comes from GRP’s perverse notion of ending the armed conflict without resolving its roots and merely pushing for the surrender and military defeat of the revolutionary movement,” it said.
NDFP remains committed
The article however said the NDFP remain committed to the resumption of formal negotiations despite attacks against their ranks and civilians.
It said that 56-year old civil war can only end with the realization of agrarian reforms, such as land rent reduction and free land distribution to the landless.
The attacks against consultants and civilians make the continuation of the peace talks becomes even more urgent, tackling urgent social and economic issues and coming up with a common comprehensive agreements on important social issues, the article said.
“It is our goal that the peace negotiations would result in comprehensive agreements on social, economic, political and constitutional reforms and provide the solution to problems which have long burdened the Filipino people,” it reiterated.
“It is therefore up to the GRP, notwithstanding its war crimes, to put on track the peace negotiations by either respecting and restoring the very foundation of trust and dialogue, or create more hostile conditions that can lead to the collapse of the negotiations,” it said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
