As a multimedia group, Kodao publishes news stories, opinion essays, cartoons, photos and others here.

Amid inflation, teachers storm Malacañan over low salaries

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Public school teachers staged a surprise protest action in front of Malacañan Palace’s Gate 6 today to demand pay hikes for education workers and teachers.

Held a few days before Labor Day, the teachers complained against the Duterte government’s refusal to grant salary increases to the largest group of civil servants after increasing police and soldiers’ wages.

“It is abominable how the Duterte regime has first played around with, then turned a deaf ear to our urgent call for economic relief,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) secretary general Raymond Basilio said.

Basilio referred to Duterte’s presidential campaign promise of increasing teachers’ salaries.

Protesting teachers held packs of rice, dried fish and instant noodles to dramatize what their families’ meals have been reduced to due to lack of a subtantial wage increase in years.

“The urgency for salary increase has doubled since the implementation of the TRAIN Law in January 2018,” Basilio said, adding 80 percent of teachers are already deep in debt due to steep inflation rates.

‘Worse, price increases have pushed more and more teachers to desperate measures such as ‘sangla-ATM’, taking sideline jobs such as tutorials and online-selling despite the already burdensome workload of teachers, and downgrading family diet and expenses just to make ends meet,” Basilio added..

ACT said it is pushing for substantial increase in the monthly basic pay of teachers in the basic and tertiary education, as well as for non-teaching personnel.

ACT said a basic salary of PhP 30,000 for an entry level teachear and PhP 16,000 for non-teaching education personnel are just. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Ang pamamaril sa mga magsasaka ng Sto Domingo, Nueva Ecija

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Ni Jek Alcaraz, Radyo Natin-Guimba

Nagko-cover ako ng kilos protesta ng mga magsasaka sa Baloc, Sto Domingo, Nueva Ecija noong Miyerkules, Abril 25.

Umaga pa lang, mga 9 am, nasa munisipyo na ako para i-cover ang pakikipagharap ng mga magsasaka kay Sto. Domingo mayor Imee de Guzman at chief of police PSupt Abraham Atencio. Inireklamo nila ang gabi-gabing pagpapaputok ng baril ng mga tauhan ng pamilya Jimenez mula sa loob ng kanilang compound. Dagdag pa, layunin din ng mga magsasaka na mag-protesta sa pagbabakod ng mga Jimenez sa 17 ektarya na lupa kung saan tatlong ektarya doon ay may tanim pang palay na kailangan nang anihin.

Dahil may sarili akong motorsiklo, nauna na ako sa area, sa tapat lang ng compound ng mga Jimenez. Ipinarada ko sa tabi ng kalsada ang aking motorsiklo. Kalaunan, doon din huminto ang bulto ng mga nagpo-protestang magsasaka.

Nag-video ako at saka ko nakita ang mga tao sa compound. Marami sila at kasama ang landlord na si Romulo Sangalang Jimenez at kanyang anak na si Jonjon.

Naisip ko agad, “Gulo ito.” Kaya inilihis ko muna ang aking motorsiklo. Saka ko nakita ang dalawang lalaki na papalapit sa bakod sa tabi ng kalsada. Hindi pa ako nakakababa at hindi ko pa napapatay ang makina nang narinig ko na ang putukan. Nakita kong nag-dapaan na ang mga magsasaka. Tiyak akong may nasugatan dahil nasa kabila lamang ng kalsada nanggagaling ang maraming putok.

I-click ito para mapanood ang video.

Screengrab mula sa video.

Tumakbo ako agad sa harap ng bulto para ma-video-han ko ang namamaril. Nakuhanan ko pang nagpaputok ang dalawang lalaki. Nakita ko ring naroon lang sa malapit ang mag-amang Romulo at Jonjon, pinapanood ang pamamaril. Nakita ko na tumakbo na iyong mga namaril papasok ng compound.

Nasugatan sa pamamaril ay si Virginia Galapon Guiang, 65 taong gulang. Tinamaan siya sa hita ng bala ng M16. Kasalukuyan siyang ginagamot sa PJG Hospital sa Cabanatuan City. Dinaplisan din ng bala ng kalibre .45 si Mariafe Orbido Magbanua, 46 years old. Namaga raw ang kanyang sugat kaya kailangan na ring iconfine sa hospital.

Unang naisip ko matapos ang pamamaril ay tumawag na ng pulis, kaya tinawagan ko ang hepe na si PSupt Atencio. Pagdating nila matapos ang limang minuto, hinabol nila iyong isang tricycle na tumatakas.

Lumapit si Jonjon Jimenez. Gusto niyang makausap ang mga pulis. Lumapit ako sa kanya upang tanungin kung puwede ba siyang magbigay ng pahayag tungkol sa pamamaril at kung mga tauhan ba nila ang mga iyon. Tinanong niya ako: “Sino ka ba?” Sinagot ko sya na media ako mula Radyo Natin Guimba. Sinabi niyang huwag ko siyang interbyuhin sa mismong lugar na iyon. Dinagdag niyang sa loob daw kami ng compound para “neutral at walang biases. Ilang beses niya akong kinunan ng litrato at video.

Makikitang nasa likod lamang ng namaril si Romulo Sangalang Jimenez na nakasuot ng kulay-rosas na tshirt. (Screengrab mula sa video)

Pagkatapos, ang mga pulis naman ang nagtanong kung kung nakuhanan ko ba yung pamamaril. Ang sabi ko, meron akong footage. Pagkatapos, ini-screen shot namin ang aking kuha ng mga suspect. Saka pumasok ang mga pulis sa loob ng compound para sa hot pursuit. Humarang si Sangalang Jimenez, dahil wala raw ebidensiyang sa loob ng compound tumuloy ang mga namaril. Sinabi pang itinanim lang ng mga magsasaka ang mga basyo ng bala.

Sinabi ng pulis na may actual video kaya huwag na sana siyang magkaila. Tinawag ako palapit doon sa kanila para sabihin sa may ari ng compound na may ebidensya. Sa pangalawang beses,. tinanong ako ni Jonjon kung sino ako at anong ginagawa ko sa lugar. Sinabi ko ulit na media ako at nagko-cover ako ng protesta. Tinanong ako ng pulis kung kaya kong mai-dentify ang suspect. Sabi ko, batay sa video na kuha ko, kaya kong i-identify iyon.

Muling nagtanong si Jonjon na paano ko raw ma-identify ang mga lalaking namaril kung wala naman ako sa actual event. Sinagot ko siya na kitang kita ng dalawang mata ko ang nangyari. Sinabi niyang media lang ako at walang karapatang mag-identify kung sino ang namaril. Dagdag niya: “Patunayan mo sa court ang mga sinasabi mo. Huwag dito dahil hindi ito iyung lugar. Kung gusto niyong mahuli ang mga tauhan ko, kailangan ay may hearing muna. Mag-file kayo ng warrant of arrest at ng search warrant para mahalughog nyo itong compound ko.”  Sumagot ako na naroon ako mismo sa pangyayari upang mag-cover ng protesta. Maaring isa ako sa pwedeng naging biktima kung hindi ako nakatabi dahil inilalayo ko ang aking motorsiklo.

Sinabihan na ako ni Jonjon matapos ang aming palitan ng salita na hindi ako pwede sa compound nila at wala akong karapatang mag-cover. Ipinagtulakan niya ako palabas ng gate. Nakita ng mga pulis. Sinabi ng PSupt Atencio: “Huwag mo namang itulak-tulak. Hindi naman na maganda iyan.”

Saka ako inakbayan ni Jonjon at sinabihang, “Umalis ka na rito.” Sinagot ko sya: “Bakit ako aalis, media ako at kailangan kong i-cover ang mga nangyayari?” Subalit iginiit niyang palabasin ako. Lumabas ako subalit matapos ang ilang minuto, ipinatawag ulit ako ni PSupt Atencio upang ituro sa mga inipon nilang mga tao kung sino ang namumukhaan ko. Itinuro ko ang salarin. Nagwala na ang mag-amang Jimenez. Hindi raw makukuha ang mga tauhan nila.  Naghihilahan sila at ang mga pulis sa suspect.

Dahil hindi makuha ang suspect, pinosasan na lang siya sa tricycle. Hinintay namin ang pagdating ng Provincial Director ng Nueva Ecija PNP na si PSSupt Eliseo Tanding. Pagdating niya, ipina-halughog niya ang buong paligid. Unang nakita ang isang 9mm na pistol na nakabalot ng tela sa may sukal. Sumunod ang isang shotgun na nakalagay sa sako na naka-suksok lang din. Iginiit ni Jonjon na planted ang mga ito at hindi sa kanila ang mga baril.

I-click ito para mapanood ang ikalawang video.

Ang mag-amang JImenez (Romulo, na naka-suot ng kulay rosas, at Jonjon, na naka-asul).

Habang kinukunan ko ang aktwal na pagkita sa shotgun, tinanong ulit ako ni Jonjon: “Ano ka ba dito? Official media ka ba ng mga pulis?” Sinabi ko sa kanya: “Obligado ba akong sagutin iyan. Media ako, hindi pa ba sapat iyon? Sabi niya ulit: “Aba! Pamamahay ko ito. Nandito ka sa bakuran ko. Dapat alam ko kung sino ang pinapa-pasok ko.” Sumagot ang hepe: “Siya ang nandito. Hindi na kailangan ng official media from PNP at siya na iyong nakasaksi ng mga kaganapan.”

Inimbitahan ako sa Provincial Office ng Nueva Ecija PNP upang magbigay ng salaysay. Nagtalaga ng tatlong pulis para sa aking seguridad. # (Jek Alcaraz, Radyo Natin-Guimba)

‘No plan, no heart’ in Boracay closure, envi group says

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Environmental activist group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) held a picket Tuesday at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) main office in Quezon City to protest the impending closure of Boracay island.

The group said the arbitrary six-month closure had no comprehensive scientific rehabilitation plan, but will displace thousands of workers in the process.

“Duterte’s Boracay closure order is like bar-drunk swagger that had no comprehensive, scientific basis and no heart for the 36,000 workers it will displace. His yes men are struggling to come up with rehab, security, and even completely illogical land reform plans, but these cannot justify the full closure of the island,” Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment national coordinator Leon Dulce said.

“With no comprehensive rehab plan whatsoever, we see Duterte’s closure order will benefit the only Boracay projects that have full plans and in full implementation, the Chinese-backed mega casinos,” Dulce added.

The environment group noted that the planned casino of Macau-based Galaxy Entertainment will be built on an inland forest area of Boracay and still has a provisional permit from the government in effect up to present.

“What kind of environmental rehab plan would allow the conversion of native tree forests into a mega casino? Despite the Department of Tourism’s claim the Galaxy casino is searching for a new location, locals report the company’s local partners recently continued to acquire land in Boracay. The DILG’s guidelines on the closure do not even include a moratorium for new construction projects which makes the closure order even more suspect,” Dulce said.

Part of the protest action at the DENR Tuesday. (Kalikasan PNE photo)

A Fact-Finding Solidarity Mission (FFSM) was conducted last week by environmental groups and people’s organizations to investigate the circumstances and effects of the impending closure of Boracay on the people.

The Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) was among the groups that joined the mission.

“Despite repeated requests by various organizations and even media outfits, President Duterte and the DENR has not yet divulged any plan or paper which details how exactly they are going to embark on rehabilitating the island, or as to why they arbitrarily chose six months as the supposed recovery period,” CEC researcher Lia Alonzo said.

“There was not even a public consultation held prior to Duterte’s verbal pronouncements on closing the island. Up to the present, there is still no order or legal basis for the closure,” she added.

Kim-Sin Tugna, of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) – Aklan, who was also part of the FFSM, reported that the deployment of 630 fully-armed police only sowed fear and terror among the populace.

“Despite the absence of a writ of eviction, which can only be issued by the courts, the DENR escorted by police forces have been asking residents to leave since their houses were said to be built on wetlands. The residents wondered why they were being evicted now when they have been paying taxes for the land they were occupying,” Tugna said.

“The intimidation of the police in fatigue uniforms and bearing high powered rifles caused fear and panic among the residents. During our public consultation, residents reported to that the police told them that they will ask for the deployment of soldiers and turn Boracay into a ‘new Marawi’ if the residents will resist,” Tugna added.

“Although the rehabilitation of the Boracay is indeed much needed, any move to help the islands heal should also not leave behind the livelihood concerns of the residents who have no other means to earn decent income in the first place,” Dulce said.

“But with a casino to be built on Boracay’s forest itself, the closure order only reveals that the Duterte regime’s environmental pronouncements are a sham. Moreover, we castigate the Duterte regime for enforcing its arbitrary closure order using draconic and dictatorial methods which only terrorize the people,” Dulce concluded.#

Thanks, but peace talks first, Sison tells Duterte

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National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for the latter’s offer for him to return to the country, but said such may be premature without substantial advancements to the peace talks.

“I thank President Duterte for his expressed wish for my soonest homecoming and for his assurances of hospitality and guarantees for my safety,” Sison said, adding he has long wished they could meet again and cooperate closely in enabling the peace process to advance from one item to another in the substantive agenda.

“I declare that I will certainly return home when a significant advance in the peace negotiations has been achieved within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration and when my comrades and lawyers are satisfied with legal and security precautions,” Sison said.

Sison said that that if he return to the Philippines prematurely, he would expose not only himself but also the entire peace process to extremely high risks of violent sabotage and termination by spoilers who are out to terminate the peace process once and for all.

Over the weekend, Duterte again invited his former professor to return to the Philippines and possibly resume the peace negotiations in the country.

“I created a small window, 60 days. My proposal to Sison is that I no longer go to…We are talking about the Philippines here. So you come home,” Duterte said before motorcycle enthusiasts in Albay.

Duterte said Sison will be safe while in the Philippines.

“I will molest no one. I will order the military and the police to be nice to you,” he said.

Sison, however, said the important common task in the next few weeks is for the NDFP and Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panels is to prepare for the resumption of the peace negotiations by doing the following:

  1. Making a memorandum of agreement to respect existing agreements prior to Proclamation 360 (which terminated the peace process) and to remove the obstacles and hindrances to the participation of a significant number of NDFP negotiators, consultants and experts in the peace negotiations.
  2. Drafting the mutually satisfactory agreements on ceasefire and amnesty of the political prisoners as well as the parts of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and National Industrialization and Economic Development.
  3. Signing and approving the agreements well within the 60-day frame that President Duterte has set by way of resuming the peace negotiations.

Duterte terminated negotiations November last year and moved to have NDFP allied organizations, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army, proscribed as terrorist organizations.

Last Thursday, Duterte said he ordered the possible resumption of formal negotiations because he does not want GRP soldiers dying and in response to the NDFP’s desire to resume the peace talks.

Sison said he is confident that the GRP and the NDFP negotiating panels, consultants and drafting teams will be able to produce in the next few weeks the documents necessary for resuming the peace negotiations and making the peace process strong and stable.

Meanwhile, the NDFP is set to celebrate its 45th founding anniversary on Tuesday, April 24. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Earth Day eco-walk in QC, Manila highlight threats to environment

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Environmental advocates led by the Lumaban sa Cha-Cha, Ipagtanggol ang Kalikasan (LUNTIAN) Coalition held ‘eco-walks’ a day before International Earth Day at the University of the Philippines – Diliman and Manila to draw attention to what they say are threats to Philippine patrimony by the proposed changes to the Constitution.

“From our mountain ridges to our urban green spaces down to the coral reefs, our last ecological frontiers are facing increased risks of plunder today,” Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) national coordinator and LUNTIAN convenor Leon Dulce said Saturday. Read more

Artists demand justice for renowned social realist painter

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Artists demanded justice for the killing of a renowned visual artist Wednesday night in Montalban, Rizal by still unknown assailants.

Arts and media alliance Let’s Organize for Democracy and Integrity (LODI) said it is outraged over what it called “senseless act of violence” that killed social realist painter Gene de Loyola.

“We urge the government to waste no time in going after the killers of Gene,” LODI said.

De Loyola, whose paintings hang in the National Museum and other major exhibits, used his art to call attention to political, social and economic issues, the group said.

Gene de Loyola (image courtesy of his family)

LODI added the late artist also went beyond the comfort zone of easel work, organizing to help both artists and local communities.

De Loyola’s daughter, Maan, said the victim went to Montalban to paint last Wednesday but, on his way home, decided to pass by the barricades of a homeowners’ group engaged in a dispute with a big developer.

“Papa goes there to help out. The organization’s president, Jun Elarde, was apparently the target,” Maan posted on her Facebook account.

“[Elarde] suffered multiple gunshots, and Papa (De Loyola) took several gunshots in the head and shoulders,” she added.

LODI said Do Loyola was no stranger to grassroots organizing during Ferdinand Marcos’s martial law.

“He left the comfortable world of advertising to immerse full time in art and activism, honing his talent to aid the broad protest movement against the Marcos dictatorship,” the group said.

In 1975, De Loyola co-founded the Sining Binhi art group of Ermita to explore themes of the Filipino identity. A center for young and progressive artists, the group held art workshops for urban poor youth in Smokey Mountain, Tondo, a fishing village in Paranaque and the street children of Baclaran.

In 1981, De Loyola helped in launching BUKLOD SINING, an organization known for creating the huge protest murals featured in growing protests against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“We grieve for Gene and condole with his loved ones. LODI stands with them in their quest for justice for Gene and Jun,” LODI said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

‘Not surprised,’ KMU says of Duterte’s turnaround on endo promise

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Militant labor denounced Rodrigo Duterte’s decision not to issue an order ending contractualization of workers, saying the President’s move is a complete turnaround from his repeated promise to end the practice.

Following labor secretary Silvestre Bello III’s announcement Thursday that Duterte decided to leave it to Congress to decide on labor-only contracting, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairperson Elmer Labog said the government is bent on maintaining the status quo in the labor sector.

“Duterte wants contractual labor to remain the norm while regular employment is just the exemption,” Labog told Kodao.

“He sweet-talked us for such a long time, but it all comes to nothing,” Labog added.

In a statement, Kilusang Mayo Uno said it was Duterte himself in a dialogue last May 1, 2017 who asked the labor sector to draft an EO that he would immediately sign.

“However, like his other promises and pretensions, Duterte refused to deliver. This further proves that his tough-talk against contractualization was a mere publicity stunt to woo workers’ votes like all other traditional politicians,” KMU said.

In his press briefing, Bello said three drafts of the executive order were submitted to the Office of the President through the Office of the Executive Secretary.

Bello said Malacañan however ultimately decided to instead certify as priority a Senate bill on the security of tenure of workers.

Earlier, the Palace announced that Duterte will finally issue an order to end contractualization, or non-regularization of workers. It later said Malacañan decided to postpone Duterte’s signing of the order last April 15.

No order was signed and issued last Sunday, however.

In justifying Duterte’s decision, Bello said the Senate bill is a reinforcement of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Department Order 174 meant to address the issue of unlawful contractualization anyway.

Bello said the DOLE order and the Senate bill may end contractualization “if there is an effective and honest-to-goodness implementation.”

Labog, however, said militant labor has no illusions about the prospective anti-contractualization law.

“Wala na iyan. Lututuin lang iyan sa Kongreso,” Labog said. (That’s nothing. It will just be mangled in Congress.)

Labog warned that more workers would be disappointed and angry at Duterte.

“It will not only be KMU who gets angry with Duterte, but all the other workers who are victims of contractualization,” Labog said.

Labog added KMU’s International Labor Day activities will start at nine o’clock in the morning at Liwasang Bonifacio.

“Our main sectoral call is, of course, for the junking of contractualization,” Labog said.

KMU said Duterte’s mockery of Filipino workers and of our legitimate demands will never be forgiven.

“On May 1, International Labor Day, hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers across the country will show their outrage over Duterte’s rejection of our demands for regular and decent jobs in a nationwide workers’ and people’s protest,” KMU’s statement said.# (Raymund B. Villanueva)

US holds Filipino activist, denies entry

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A prominent Mindanao activist is being held by US immigration authorities at the San Francisco International Airport, various human rights organizations and individuals said.

Sandugo – Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination co-chairperson Jerome Aladdin Succor Aba has been denied entry to the US and is being held at the airport, the alerts said.

Aba is scheduled for deportation back to the Philippines Wednesday night, April 18, US time, the alerts added.

US immigration authorities have not released the basis for the denial of entry against the Filipino activist.

Fellow Moro advocate Amirah Ali Lidasan said Aba’s travel papers are in order, including a 10-year multiple entry visa to the US.

Lidasan added that no lawyer has been allowed to see Aba even after 15 hours of detention and they do not know if he has been treated well and fed.

A well-known critic of the Rodrigo Duterte government’s war in Marawi and elsewhere the Philippines, Aba was invited to the US by several church institutions, including the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Sisters of Mercy, and the General Board of Global Ministries-United Methodist Church to serve as a resource speaker at their respective events.

Aba was to speak on the human rights situation in the Philippines under the Duterte government during the Sixteenth National Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) for Global Peace with Justice in Washington D.C. on April 20 to 23.

The EAD is an annual national gathering of churches on peace and social justice issues that includes lobbying visits to Capitol Hill.

He was also scheduled to go on a speaking tour elsewhere in the US to campaign for a stop to the killings in the Philippines sponsored by the US Chapter of International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.

Filipino-Americans and other supporters including Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-USA have picketed the airport to demand Aba’s release and for him to be allowed entry to the US.

Advocates from outside the San Francisco/Bay Area have also launched a phone barrage to the US Customs and Border Protection Agency, the alert said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

City councilor, lawyer, activists included in Negros town police’s poster of Reds

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BACOLOD CITY — A councilor of the northern Negros Occidental city of Escalante, a lawyer who has longed worked with peasant and human rights groups, and a number of current and former leaders of activist groups were among more than 60 supposed communist rebels whose faces were printed on a police poster.

The National Federation of Sugar Workers issued an alert with a copy of the poster it said was being pinned up by the police force of the central Negros town of Moises Padilla.

The alert was released Monday, the same day human rights groups reported the arrest in Tarlac of Australian nun Patricia Fox, NDS, a volunteer with the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, by Immigration officers.

At the top of the poster is the message, “CNN PERSONALITIES, if seen in the area, please text 09099191720.”

CNN is the acronym used by state security forces to refer to members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

PNP poster accusing well-known personalities in Negros of being underground revolutionaries. (NFSW photo)

Among the legal personalities whose faces are on the poster are Karapatan-Negros secretary general Clarizza Singson, Zara Alvarez of the Negros Island Health Integrated Program, UMA secretary general John Lozande,NFSW secretary general Christian Tuayon, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers-Negros secretary general Benjamin Ramos, Escalante Councilor Bernardino Patigas, Julius Dagatan, Ronald Evidente, Ma Rina Amacio, Rogina Quilop, Lary Ocena and Anecita Rojo.

A number of them are also included in the list of alleged rebels that forms part of the Department of Justice’s petition to have the CPP and NPA proscribed as “terrorist organizations.”

On the other hand, Amihan, the National Federation of Peasant Women, said Fox was arrested around 3 p.m. and is currently detained at the Bureau of Immigration’s intelligence bureau.

The group said the nun, who joined a recent international solidarity and fact-finding mission in Mindanao that was reported harassed and hounded by state forces, could be deported.

Sr. Patricia Fox, NDS, in detention at the Bureau of Immigration. (Photo by Atty Ma Sol Taule)

Fox’ arrest came a day after Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary-general of the Party of European Socialists, was barred from entering the country in Cebu, where he was scheduled to attend the congress of Akbayan.

Filibeck, who visited the country last year as a member of a human rights fact-finding mission that criticized the government’s bloody war on drugs, was informed he was on a blacklist order and deported.

NDFP to file complaint on disappearance of consultant

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The negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said it will file a complaint against the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) on the reported involuntary disappearance of one of its peace consultants.

NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said the disappearance of Lora T. Manipis and her husband Jeruel B. Domingo since February 24 will be a subject of a complaint to be filed with their joint human rights and international humanitarian law monitoring committee with the GRP.

“We expect the GRP to act on [the complaint] together with all the other hindrances [to the resumption of the peace talks],” Agcaoili told Kodao.

The NDFP in Far Southern Mindanao said Minipis and Domingo both vanished without a trace after being seen by witnesses in Kidapawan City. The group said the couple had not made any contact with their family and comrades.

“At the time of their disappearance, they were arranging for activities related to the peace process. They were also actively holding dialogs with indigenous people and peasants who have been affected by the large-scale mining operations of X-trata Mining in Tampakan, South Cotabato,” NDFP said.

Manipis joins other NDFP consultants believed abducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, such as Leo Velasco, Rogelio Calubad, Prudencio Calubid, NDFP staff members Philip Limjoco, Leopoldo Ancheta, and Federico Intise.

“We fear that Manipis and Domingo may have already been executed by intelligence and military operatives, or are suffering from intense torture and other violations of international humanitarian law,” the NDFP said.

Meanwhile, Davao Today reported that Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Jerry Lamosao denied responsibility for the couple’s disappearance.

“If they believe that the Army is responsible, they should have filed a complaint earlier given that if they coordinate with authorities, they can ask for assistance,” Lamosao said.

Agcaoili said they are still checking Manipis’ Document of Identification name with their official list of consultants under the NDFP and GRP’s Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

The JASIG list was deposited by both the NDFP and the GRP with an unnamed third party in The Netherlands last June.

Consultants included in the JASIG list as well as other persons directly participating in the peace negotiations are guaranteed free movement and freedom from arrest, surveillance, interrogation and similar actions in connection with their involvement or participation in the peace negotiations for the duration of the peace talks.

Immunities cover acts, statements, materials, information and data made during or resulting from the peace negotiations.

The 2017 list, encrypted in Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash disks and backed up in a Security Drive (SD), contains photographs and the real identities of NDFP peace consultants who are still underground, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)