As a multimedia group, Kodao publishes news stories, opinion essays, cartoons, photos and others here.
Si Ka Roberto ay tubong Maynila at sumapi sa Bagong Hukbong Bayan noong 2010. Siya ay napabilang sa Pulang Bagani Company 2 (PBC2) kasama ng mga Manobo (Lumad). Ang PBC2 ay kabilang sa Pulang Bagani Battalion ng New People’s Army sa Southern Mindanao Region.
Mawalang-galang po, mahal na Pangulo. Sinasadya ng National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) na gamitin ang pambansang wika sa pahayag na ito upang bigyang sapat na halaga ang kaliwanagan sa komunikasyon at tiyakin na mauunawaan ng lahat ang nais naming ipaabot.
Sa inyong panayam sa midya nung Huwebes, muli mong sinabi na “nilalaro” mo kami at “mahilig” kang “magbitaw ng kalokohan.” Kung kaya, pananagutan ng mga mamamahayag ang pagsusuri sa bawat mong salita, kung totoo ba o hindi, at kami ang dapat sisihin kung ‘di tugma ang aming ulat sa mensahe na nais ninyong iparating.
Ipagpaumanhin po ninyo, subalit tuwiran kaming tumututol sa inyong pananaw. Hindi dahil ayaw naming suriin ang inyong mga salita — dahil kasama po ito sa aming gawain — kundi, bilang Pangulo ng Pilipinas, kayo po ang may pananagutan at tungkuling maging malinaw sa lahat ng inyong pahayag sa sambayanan at sa buong mundo.
May mga pagkakataon naman po para sa biro o sa kalokohan. Subalit dahil kayo ang Pangulo, ang inyong mga pahayag sa publiko ay aming itinuturing — at dapat lamang ituring — na patakaran ng inyong pamahalaan. Dagdag pa, marami rin sa inyong masusugid na tagasuporta ang nagtuturing ding atas at utos maging ang inyong mga biro at gamitin ang mga ito bilang dahilan para sa mga karumaldumal na hangarin ng mga kriminal at tiwali sa loob at labas ng gobyerno. Sa ganitong kalagayan, aming kagalang-galang na ginoo, hindi kaya mainam na huwag mo na kaming laruin at bawasan na ang hilig ninyong magbitiw ng kalokohan?
Ipagpatawad po ninyo , mahal na Pangulo, kung amin namang ibinabalik sa inyo ang inyong sinabi: Kung hindi malinaw ang inyong mga pahayag at hindi malinaw kung ito ay biro o seryoso, nasa inyo po at wala sa amin o sa taumbayan, ang problema. Seryoso po kami sa aming gawain at tungkulin naming ituring na seryoso at iulat ng tapat ang anumang namumutawi sa bibig ng Pangulo.
Huwag po ninyong baliktarin ang kaayusan ng pananagutang maging malinaw, Mr. President.
PAQUIBATO DISTRICT, Davao City—The New People’s Army’s (NPA) Pulang Bagani Battalion led the celebration of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) 48th founding anniversary in this upland community yesterday in a show of force in President Rodrigo Duterte’s own hometown. Read more
by Roy Magsilang for Kodao Productions
CENTRAL NEGROS — If there was any region most affected by the split within the revolutionary movement in the early 1990s, it would have to be Negros.
In 1993, the then Negros Island Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines declared its “autonomy” and rejection of the Second Great Rectification Movement and, just like that, one of the strongest bastions of the revolution was decimated, losing 80 percent of its strength.
Of the New People’s Army, which was known to mount company-sized operations and could easily muster a battalion on short notice, all that was left was a lone platoon operating within only three villages.
It was to this that former priest Frank Fernandez, who had not too long before left Negros after being given greater responsibilities in the movement, returned, his mission to oversee the recovery – rebirth would probably be a more apt term – of the revolutionary movement on the island.
Fast forward to December 22, 2016, as Juanito Magbanua, commander of the NPA-Negros’ Apolinario Gatmaitan Command, gestures to the thickly forested peaks, above which hawks occasionally soar, that stand like sentries around the village deep in the Central Negros highlands where the rebels are hosting a grassroots peace forum that has gathered easily more than 3,000 people by mid-morning with even more streaming in as the day progresses.
It is the largest event the rebels say they have ever hosted.
“We have a few platoons stationed around us to guard the occasion,” he tells a journalist who has just passed an NPA checkpoint manned by one of the platoons at the road leading to the village.
And in the grounds of the school where the forum was being held, there were easily two or three more platoons, one detailed to render military honors during the singing of the communist anthem “Internationale,” the others involved in preparing and performing in a cultural program, feeding the multitude, entertaining the guests, including children, and the host of other tasks involved in such a huge event.
For all the cynicism with which the so-called millennial generation is often looked at, they were an overwhelming presence among the Negros NPA. Just as they were at the protests that followed the burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
It was, indeed, a far cry from 1993 when the NPA platoon that remained after the split celebrated the founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines, its 25th but the first in Negros in the time of rectification.
Held in a small forest hollow in the dead of night with only some 30 or so of the masa, the songs, speeches and militant chants reduced to whispers because just that afternoon they had gone on high alert after a military patrol was spotted in the vicinity.
Speaking later to journalists at a press conference together with Fernandez, who allowed the media to show his face publicly for the first time in three decades, Magbanua said Negros is currently divided into four guerrilla fronts, each covering the rough equivalent of one congressional district: the Roselyn Pelle Command of the Northern Front, the Leonardo Panaligan Command of the Central Front, the Armando Sumayang Jr. Command of the Southwest Front, and the Rachelle Mae Palang Command of the Southeast Front.
“And we are currently busy developing even more guerrilla fronts,” Magbanua said, laughing off claims of Brigadier General Jon Aying, commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and former chief of the Negros-based 303rd Infantry Brigade, “that only around 200 NPA fighters remain” on the island.
“Just look around you and judge for yourself if what he claims is true,” Magbanua said.
In fact, he said, given that the NPA is now spread through 120 guerrilla fronts throughout the country, “the government does not have the capacity to defeat, much less, crush us.”
He noted that during the term of former President Benigno Aquino III, “he wanted to deploy one battalion to each NPA front. His problem was, there are only more than 80 infantry battalions.”
And even if it could be managed, the NPA of Negros have proven time and again that a battalion or even two are not enough to defeat a much smaller, but highly mobile and disciplined, guerrilla force.
For example, that lone platoon in 1993 survived the next few years with nary a scratch despite major offensives involving one or more Army battalions before it deployed small teams to undertake recovery and expansion work.
Militarily, Magbanua explained, “the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) can mount full-scale operations in only 10 guerrilla fronts and only for up to six months at most, giving the other 110 fronts the opportunity time to rest, strengthen themselves, and mount their own operations.”
“Really, the future is bright for the revolution,” he said, “which is why the government has been forced to enter into peace talks with us.” #
COMMUNISTS on Negros Island said they are not ready for a bilateral ceasefire agreement between the Rodrigo Duterte government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) until President Rodrigo Duterte orders the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to stop targeting activists for assassination.
Speaking to journalists at a grassroots peace forum last December 22, National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Negros spokesperson Frank Fernandez said the AFP is “using the war on drugs as a justification” for targeting 16 activists all over the country, including an indigenous people’s leader.
The former Roman Catholic priest said that instead of respecting Duterte’s unilateral ceasefire declaration in effect since August, the AFP is using the anti-narcotics campaign as a cover for counterinsurgency operations.
“This is why we cannot agree right away to a bilateral ceasefire with government because we have to secure the people in the areas where we operate against abuses like this,” Fernandez said.
Duterte had been exerting pressure on the NDFP to sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement with his government, repeatedly threatening them that there will be no further releases of political prisoners unless he receives a signed declaration.
Fernandez for his part slammed the government’s anti-drug campaign and said Duterte’s approach “can never solve the problem.”
Anti-poor anti-drug campaign
Speaking in the same forum, New People’s Army (NPA) commander Juanito Magbanua said they initially appreciated Duterte’s efforts to solve the drug problems “but quickly saw something was wrong because most of those who have died are the poor.”
“Drugs reach the streets from above, from the drug lords and large distributors. Why not go after them first instead of killing only the poor, who are as much victims of the drug trade?” Magbanua asked.
The guerrilla commander said even the street pushers belong to the suffering poor.
“We are not saying they (pushers) are right but most of them were pushed to the trade by poverty,” he stressed.
Magbanua said that long before Duterte started going after drug addicts and pushers in Davao City, the NPA already had an anti-drug program in the guerrilla zones.
But while they share Duterte’s goal of eradicating illegal narcotics in the country, Magbanua said they “cannot agree to the extrajudicial executions whose targets are largely the masses.”
Both communist leaders said they are still waiting for Duterte to prove himself to the people, noting that in his first six months as president, “wala sang benepisyo sa masa (there have been no benefits for the masses).”
More than a hundred NPA guerrilla fronts are set to celebrate the Communist Party of the Philippines’ 48th founding anniversary tomorrow, December 26. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
THE ongoing unilateral ceasefire declarations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) will stand over the Christmas and New Year holidays, promising to be the longest ever truce between the Manila government and the revolutionary Left.
The ceasefire declarations of August by both parties remain valid for December and January if not terminated, according to NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison.
“The NDFP has no intention of terminating the unilateral ceasefire declaration in December and probably even in January,” Sison said.
Previously, the Corazon Aquino GRP signed a 60-day ceasefire agreement with the NDFP as a result of their August-December 1986 formal talks at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.
The agreement was terminated after seven farmers were killed in what became known as the Mendiola Massacre of January 1987.
“But the NDFP keeps on reminding the GRP to order its military force to desist from invading the territory of the people’s democratic government and to stop committing atrocities under Oplan Bayanihan or some other ‘oplan’,” Sison added.
President Rodrigo Duterte for his part asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines to observe a ceasefire over the Christmas and new year holidays.
“As agreed upon with local religious leaders, I am honestly, sincerely asking you for a ceasefire beginning December 23 to 27, then new year, 31st hanggang January 2, 3,” Duterte told the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in his speech at at its 81st anniversary rites at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday.
In his speech, Duterte also confirmed Sison’s announcement on Facebook that they talked on the phone last December 19.
“I had a friendly and productive phone conversation with President Duterte about advancing the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations at around 7 p.m. last night Utrecht time,” Sison said.
Kodao interviewed Sison about these developments:
Kodao: What did you and Duterte talk about?
Jose Maria Sison (JMS): We talked in general terms. I focused on the need to amnesty and release all the political prisoners and accelerate the negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) as well as on Political and Constitutional Reforms (PCR).
I told him that the NDFP could go along with the GRP in founding the Federal Republic of the Philippines and making a new constitution with provisions for assuring enough resources for planned economic development and the preemption of political dynasties and warlordism.
President Duterte focused on opposing the oligarchs and running after corrupt officials. I agreed with him that the GRP and NDFP can agree on opposing US imperialism and the oligarchs in order to uphold national independence and economic development of the Philippines.
Kodao: On top of the existing unilateral GRP ceasefire with the NDFP, President Duterte asked the AFP to observe a ceasefire “beginning December 23-27, then new year, 31st hanggang January 2-3.” What can you say about this?
JMS: The existing unilateral declarations of the GRP and the NDFP remain valid for December and January if not terminated. The NDFP has no intention of terminating the unilateral ceasefire declaration in December and probably even in January. But it keeps on reminding the GRP to order its military force to desist from invading the territory of the people’s democratic government and to stop committing atrocities under Oplan Bayanihan or some other oplan.
Kodao: What was your discussion about the third round of the formal GRP-NDFP talks, if any?
JMS: We covered the third round of talks in a general way. I explained that we could make the comprehensive agreements in one year or less than two years. And we can cooperate on the implementation for three to five years. I told President Duterte that during his term, the foundation for the industrial development of the Philippines should be laid and we can proceed with further five-year economic plans to accomplish Ambisyon 2040.
Kodao: What was your discussion regarding the political prisoners, if any?
JMS: I indicated briefly that President Duterte and I could meet in Rome if all the political prisoners were released and the bilateral ceasefire agreement is already signed by the Negotiating Panels before or during the third round of talks.
Kodao: What is the truth regarding his claim that the CPP-NPA-NDFP “did not declare a cessation of hostilities somewhere”? (President Duterte may have been referring to the incident in Southern Mindanao region where NPA fighters killed GRP troops last August.)
JMS: It is possible that he was referring to that period in August when the CPP and NPA did not declare their own unilateral ceasefire and there was an NPA ambush on armed units of the AFP in Southern Mindanao. He must have mentioned it as an anecdote to show concern for his own troops.
Kodao: What can you say about his claim that the NPA fighters may visit their families during the holidays and visit military camps to break bread with GRP soldiers?
JMS: During the validity and effectivity of the unilateral ceasefire agreements, the NPA Red commands can arrange family visits of Red fighters and organize or join peace rallies like those on December 26. But visiting AFP military camps and breaking bread with AFP soldiers can entail more difficult decision-making and working out complex arrangements to ensure safety. But in previous instances, when the NPA released prisoners of war, the NPA hosted Mayor Duterte and his armed escorts in NPA territory.
Kodao: What is your reply to his statement that Communist rebels should “come down” from the mountains and rejoin society?”
JMS: It is appropriate for President Duterte to express his wish because the objective of the peace negotiations is to address the roots of the armed conflict, undertake social, economic, political and constitutional reforms and establish a just and lasting peace.
(Report and interview by Raymund B. Villanueva / Featured image by Jon Bustamante)
A columnist and publisher is the first media killing victim under the Rodrigo Duterte government.
Larry Que of the two-week old community newspaper Catanduanes News Now died 1:45 a.m. Tuesday after he was shot by a gunman wearing a bonnet and raincoat who then fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice Monday morning in Virac.
Que’s murder came after he wrote a column criticizing local officials following the recent discovery of a shabu laboratory in the province.
Que’s column, written in Bicolano, blamed the negligence of local government leaders for the shame the discovery of the laboratory had brought the province.
He also wrote it was likely the Chinese nationals who set up the laboratory had help from Chinese residents of the island province.
Fear
In a statement, the Catanduanes chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philppines (NUJP) said Que’s murder has sown fear within the local media community.
It said a number of journalists fear they might be the next target for their reports on the shabu laboratory, said to be the largest discovered in the country.
NUJP-Catanduanes also said Broadcaster Jinky Tabor revealed she received threats after acting as media witness during the police raid on the shabu laboratory.
Last November 8, Northern Watch columnist and dwPR broadcaster Virgilio Maganes survived a slay try by playing dead after a gunman shot him inside a tricycle he was riding to the radio station in Dagupan City, Pangasinan.
The NUJP said the suspects tried to make the slay try on Maganes appear to be a drug-related hit as the victim saw a cardboard with a “Pusher Ako Huwag Tularan (I am a pusher, do not be like me)” written on it.
“This added dimension to the thankfully unsuccessful attempt on Maganes’ life highlights the increasing risks faced not only by journalists but by most anyone who may be killed with impunity in the name of the government’s war on drugs,” the NUJP at the time noted. (Raymund B. Villanueva)
PROGRESSIVE organizations have had enough of human rights violations under the five month old Rodrigo Duterte government.
Thousands of torch-bearing activists stormed Mendiola on International Human Rights Day last December 10 to protest human rights violations under Duterte, including more than 6,000 extrajudicial killings, militarization of communities and the hero’s burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
“We support President Duterte’s commitment to the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the revolutionary Moro groups as well as his pronouncements for an independent foreign policy, but we will never accept and turn a blind eye to every fascist act and tendency by the administration,” Karapatan secretary-general Christina Palabay said.
The protesters, led by Karapatan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang (CARMMA), marched from Liwasang Bonifacio to Mendiola bearing hundreds of torches they later used to burn an effigy of Marcos.
“During his campaign, Duterte promised change. But there has been little done for human rights under his regime,” Palabay said.
“Instead, he freed a president that launched the bloody Oplan Bantay Laya (Gloria Arroyo) and promoted Gen. Eduardo Año—the one who abducted Jonas Burgos—to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff. This is not the change we want,” Palabay added.
Not serious
The protesters also criticized Duterte for his refusal to release more political prisoners, despite his promise to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) during his campaign to do so.
Duterte said in various recent speeches that he will not release any more political prisoners unless the NDFP signs a bilateral ceasefire with his government.
“The political prisoners are already in jail. Must they be hostages now?” Boy Cadano, father of political detainee Guiller, said.
“This is blackmail, plain and simple. This is unacceptable,” Cadano added.
“How many more must die in prison before the government begins acting to release them? The political prisoners are innocent, after all,” Cadano said, citing the recent death of Bernabe Ocasla who died last month while in detention.
NDFP consultant Concha Araneta-Bocala for her part said that this was a sign that the Duterte administration is not serious in his negotiations with their group.
“The peace process is not some poker game where you can treat the political prisoners as bargaining chips,” she said.
“The president’s statements make it clear that he is not serious about addressing the roots of the armed conflict. All he wants is a ceasefire so he can carry on a charade of peace,” Araneta-Bocala said.
Mounting death
The activists condemned the increasing number of extrajudicial killings due to of Duterte’s so-called war on drugs.
“The number of victims of the war on drugs has ballooned. Over 6,000 have died in allegedly legal operations carried out by supposed vigilantes,” human rights group Rise Up’s Irma Balabad said.
“Meanwhile, most of the killers remain free, as the president has stated that he will defend the policemen,” Balabad added.
They added that the war on drugs was actively being used against activists.
“Oplan Tokhang is now being used in rural communities to harass progressives,” Balabad said.
“It is very sad that a regime that talks about change so much is slowly beginning to smell of fascism and oppression,” Balabad added.
Choose wisely
The progressives spoke against the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, as well as Duterte’s continued affiliation with the Marcos clan.
“The dictator and his clan are addicted to power. We will not allow them to be rehabilitated and reclaim it,” CARMMA lead convenor Bonifacio Ilagan said.
“Duterte must end his alliance – or whatever he wants to call it – with the Marcoses if he wants change to be real. Otherwise, his promises are all just empty words,” Ilagan added.
“Marcos has been buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani but there is still no justice for victims of Martial Law. State fascism remains long after the dictator’s ouster,” Palabay said.
Ilagan said that they are not intimidated by either the Marcos’ return to power or Duterte’s multiple threats against human rights violations.
“This is not enough reason for us to stop our struggle. We have survived Martial Law and we will survive another attempt at it,” Ilagan said.
“We are ready to fight and revolt if things like Martial Law ever happen again. Don’t dare us,” Anakbayan chairperson Vencer Crisostomo for his part said. (Abril Layad B. Ayroso)
Kodao’s Raymund Villanueva interviews National Democratic Front of the Philippines chief political consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison on President Rodrigo Duterte’s promise to release all political prisoners, ceasefire, peace talks, new AFP chief of staff Eduardo Año, and extra-judicial killings connected to the so-called drug war.
Kodao: In a recent interview, you said the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) may work for a bilateral ceasefire as long as the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) President Rodrigo Duterte makes good on his promise to release all 434 political prisoners within 48 hours after delivery to him of a signed copy by GRP panel chair Silvestre Bello III and GRP panel member Angela Librado-Trinidad. What is your explanation for advising the revolutionary movement may accept Duterte’s challenge?
Prof. Jose Ma. Sison (JMS): I made the advice after reading a news announcement that President Duterte would release all the political prisoners within 48 hours after the GRP and NDFP panels sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement. I asked NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili to contact immediately his counterpart GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III whether the report is true and whether the GRP panel is willing to meet the NDFP panel within the second half of December regarding the bilateral ceasefire agreement.
Kodao: What should the NDFP and the revolutionary movement do with the signed bilateral ceasefire if the GRP president fails to deliver on his promise?
JMS: The signing of the bilateral ceasefire agreement by the GRP and NDFP panels can come ahead of the amnesty and release of all political prisoners by President Duterte but said agreement becomes valid and effective only upon the actual release of said political prisoners and upon the approval of the agreement by the GRP and NDFP principals. No chance for the GRP to get the bilateral ceasefire agreement and then renege on the commitment to amnesty and release all political prisoners.
Kodao: How can Duterte affect such when his peace adviser (Sec. Jesus Dureza) and the GRP panel have been saying the notoriously slow judicial processes must be followed?
JMS: Indeed, the OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) is known to block the amnesty and release of the political prisoners and is supposed to have advised Duterte accordingly. The GRP side has the power to prolong the imprisonment of the political prisoners and make them suffer needlessly an injustice in violation of the CARHRIHL and the Hernandez political offense doctrine.
But the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines is ready to terminate the August 28, 2016 unilateral declaration of interim ceasefire in case no amnesty and release of all political prisoners would occur in December or January. We shall be back to a situation of negotiating while fighting, unless the GRP terminates the peace negotiations completely.
Kodao: How long would such a bilateral ceasefire take effect?
JMS: If the bilateral ceasefire agreement shall be forged, it shall be valid and effective indefinitely between the armed forces and units of the GRP and NDFP.
Kodao: What are the conditions that would compel the NDFP to end such a bilateral ceasefire?
JMS: The NDFP can end such a bilateral ceasefire agreement if the GRP grossly and systematically violates it, loses interest in the negotiations of the substantive agenda and is interested merely in using the bilateral ceasefire as an instrument of capitulation and pacification at the expense of the people and the revolutionary forces.
Kodao: Some regional commands of the NPA and the CPP are thinking of terminating their existing unilateral ceasefire declaration because of several documented cases of violations of the GRP’s unilateral ceasefire declaration by its own armed forces. What would happen to such sentiments and the people’s complaints of ceasefire violations if the NDFP would sign a bilateral ceasefire with the GRP at this point?
JMS: The NDFP should not sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement that does not address the violations made by the AFP, PNP, paramilitary forces and death squads during the period of reciprocal unilateral ceasefires. Provisions must be made for pre-empting and preventing the recurrence of such violations. The military and police should be restricted to barracks and should not usurp civilian functions. They should not be able to use any pretext to commit atrocities against the people within the territory of the people’s democratic government.
Kodao: President Duterte met with NDFP panel chair Fidel Agcaoili, NDFP panel member Benito Tiamzon and consultants just last weekend, which reportedly went well. Then a day before Duterte appointed Lt. Gen. Eduardo Año as new AFP chief of staff, he issued his ultimatum. What do you think would happen to a bilateral ceasefire when Duterte’s new chief of staff is an alleged human rights violator and a “rebel hunter?”
JMS: In his candid moments, President Duterte himself admits that the GRP is reactionary and rotten, serving US imperialism and controlled by oligarchs, with civilian, military and police officals involved in corruption and criminality, including illegal drugs. To make a good bilateral ceasefire agreement and continue the peace negotiations with the NDFP, Duterte must assume the responsibility of fixing the criminals and self-contradictions in the GRP. He must know how to control his new AFP chief of staff or replace him if he can. Otherwise, a just and lasting peace will become impossible. And the armed revolution will continue.
Kodao: There has been more than five thousand killed under Duterte’s so-called war on drugs in his five months in office. How should the NDFP raise this issue under CARHRIHL during the formal peace talks? Is it still beneficial for the revolutionary movement to engage in formal talks with the Duterte government under which all these killings are happening?
JMS: The extrajudicial killing of 5,800 suspects of being drug pushers is a valid issue that can be discussed under the CARHRIHL, especially because there are already many complaints that the military, police and paramilitaries of the GRP are using Oplan Tokhang for the purpose of smearing and murdering revolutionaries.
The CPP, NPA and NDFP have already pointed out that the anti-drug campaign might be like Plan Columbia under which tens of thousands of paramilitaries were organised not really to fight the drug traders but the revolutionary forces.
Kodao: It is being announced that the next round (third) of formal talks would be on January 18-24 in Rome, Italy. What would be on the agenda and how is the NDFP preparing for this?
JMS: The GRP and NDFP Panels will take up the condition of the political prisoners and the unfulfilled promises to release them. There is yet no basis to say that the matter of bilateral ceasefire agreement will be taken up before or during the third round of peace talks. I expect that the negotiations of the CASER (Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms) by the RWCs (Reciprocal Working Committees) concerned will make some significant advance to show that the peace process is really moving ahead. CASER is the meat of the entire peace negotiations. It offers the prospects of national industrialization, genuine land reform, improved incomes and means of livelihood and expansion of social services.
Kodao: Why should the Filipino people support the continuation of the peace process?
JMS: The Filipino people support the continuation of the peace negotiations because they wish substantial social, economic and political reforms to be achieved across the negotiating table. However, if they are frustrated in this regard, they will also be able to see more clearly the justness and necessity of the people’s democratic revolution through people’s war. After all, the crisis of global capitalism and the domestic ruling system continues to worsen and cry out for revolution.
(Interview and Sison photo by Raymund B. Villanueva/Duterte photo by Davao Today)
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is mistaken to think that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) would be swayed into signing a bilateral ceasefire with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, NDFP Negotiating Panel chairperson Fidel Agcaoili said.
Reacting to Duterte’s threat that he will not release political prisoners without a signed bilateral ceasefire agreement, Agcaoili said the NDFP cannot be forced by ultimatums by the GRP President.
“The NDFP cannot be swayed by threats or ultimatums from its principled stand that all political prisoners should be released as a matter of justice and in compliance with signed agreements such JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees) and CARHRIHL (Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law),” Agcaoili said. Read more