Sagot nina NDFP Chief Negotiator Fidel Agcaoili at Chief Political Consultant Prof Jose Maria Sison hinggil sa huling pahayag ni Pangulong Duterte sa mga NDFP Consultants.
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
May 31, 2017
NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said President Rodrigo’s latest tirade against them may have adverse effects on the peace negotiations.
NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said they are still studying all the possible implications of Duterte’s statement, adding “it will be problematic for people here (NDFP negotiators and consultants) to go home just to be arrested.”
In his speech during the 119th anniversary of the Philippine Navy in Davao City earlier today, Duterte said he is warning the leaders (of the Communist Party of the Philippines [CPP]) not to come home from the aborted fifth round of formal talks in this city.
“I will arrest all of you and throw you to the slammer. I will imprison you and all the elderly I will arrest you again,” Duterte said.
“And if needed, you will just die there inside the prison. You know you cannot run anymore,” he added.
Agcaoili said NDFP legal advisers are looking for ways to ensure the safety of the consultants.
“When the consultants were given visas, it was made clear to them they should not seek asylum (in Europe). With this new development, they may be forced to do so. But it would have to be their personal decision,” Agcaoili said.
The fifth round of formal negotiations scheduled on May 27 to April 1 in this city was aborted when the GRP insisted on a joint bilateral ceasefire and a retraction of the CPP’s directive to the NPA to further intensify its attacks against government forces in light of Duterte’s martial law declaration in Mindanao.
GRP may declare unilateral ceasefire
Agcaoili made clear the NDFP would not be forced into declaring a unilateral ceasefire in light of Duterte’s outburst.
“If the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) wants, they can declare a unilateral ceasefire with the revolutionary forces. Then we can consider it favorably,” he said.
“In doing so, the GRP would be making it very clear the target of martial law in Mindanao is only the Maute group. They would be making it very clear the New People’s Army is not a target,” Agcaoili said.
The NDFP repeatedly said the CPP’s order to the NPA to further intensify its military operations against the Armed Forces of the Philippines was merely a reaction to GRP defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statement the NPA may be among the targets of martial law in Mindanao.
The CPP for its part cited Lorenzana’s retraction as “empty and self-contradicted by his consequent order for the military to go against the NPA,” as their reason for not rescinding its own order to its armed wing.
The group said that even as Duterte’s martial law declaration covers only Mindanao, all GRP military units and police forces have gone on red or full alert in North Luzon, Central Luzon, the National Capital Region, Bicol Region, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Negros and Panay.
“They have imposed their threatening armed presence in public places, parked tanks in government offices and roadsides. Checkpoints have been set up as well in Tacloban City on the utterly ridiculous reason of ‘solidarity with martial law in Mindanao,’” the CPP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva/Featured photo by Viory Schellekens)
NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) blamed the Rodrigo Duterte government for the cancellation of the fifth round of formal negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), saying the setback is Manila government’s sole responsibility.
The Government of the Republic of the Philippines’ (GRP) decision not to participate in the fifth round of talks was brought about by its all-out war and martial law, the CPP in a statement said.
The group said the GRP demanded that the NPA silence its guns while “AFP’s (Armed Forces of the Philippines) cannons, bombs and heavy gunfire thunder against the people.”
The CPP said the GRP Negotiating Panel “imposed unnecessary, last-minute and unacceptable preconditions for talks to proceed.”
It added the GRP’s decision has effectively derailed and set back negotiations on a Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER).
The CPP said the GRP insisted that the NDFP sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement prior to the negotiations on any other substantive agreement and the CPP recall its declaration to the NPA to carry out more military offensives in the face of its own all-out war and imposition of martial law in Mindanao.
Such demands have become increasingly counterproductive, the underground organization said.
Creeping nationwide martial rule
The group explained its order for more tactical offensives against GRP forces was merely a response to defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statement the NPA may be a target of the GRP’s martial law imposition.
The CPP said it heard the retraction by Defense Secretary Lorenzana that martial law in Mindanao is not directed against the NPA but said it was “empty and self-contradicted by his consequent order for the military to go against the NPA for its ‘illegal activities’.”
The group said that even as Duterte’s martial law declaration covers only Mindanao, all GRP military units and police forces have gone on red or full alert in North Luzon, Central Luzon, the National Capital Region, Bicol Region, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Negros and Panay.
“They have imposed their threatening armed presence in public places, parked tanks in government offices and roadsides. Checkpoints have been set up as well in Tacloban City on the utterly ridiculous reason of ‘solidarity with martial law in Mindanao,’” the CPP said.
“The Party joins the people in denouncing the creeping nationwide martial rule,” it added.
Norwegian government still supportive of the peace process
Meanwhile, Elisabeth Slattum, Royal Norwegian Government Special Envoy to the Philippine Peace Process said her government remains committed to their support of the peace negotiations.
“It is very unfortunate that this round of formal talks could not take place as scheduled. But it is important to remember that all peace processes go through difficult times,” Slattum told reporters after the cancellation announcements.
“What defines a successful peace process is not the absence of crises but the ability of the parties to overcome them and push through,” she said, adding she witnessed how the negotiating panels showed “great dedication and commitment to these peace negotiations.”
“It is important to specify that although this fifth round of formal talks will not take place, the peace talks have not been cancelled and the peace process remains intact. Norway is very hopeful that the parties will be able to return to the negotiating table very soon,” Slattum said.# (Raymund B. Villanueva/Featured photo by Viory Schellekens)
NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) has announced it will not participate in the fifth round of formal peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
In a press conference, Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza and GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III said there are no clear indications that an enabling environment conducive for the formal talks to proceed has been achieved after two days of informal and backchannel negotiations.
“This is a temporary setback which has also happened in the past. This only means we need to work harder on the peace process,” Bello said.
Dureza refused to explain their reasons and just asked the reporters present at the press briefing to report their statements “as stated.”
GRP negotiators, however, has repeatedly said earlier it wants the CPP to rescind its order to the NPA of intensified operations against government troops in light of defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statement the rebel guerrillas are among the targets of President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law declaration over all of the Mindanao region.
“It would be a factor,” Dureza replied when asked if the GRP would resume formal peace negotiations in case the CPP complies to the demand.
Dureza and Bello said President Rodrigo Duterte is aware of the GRP panel’s decision.
In reply, NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said the cancellation of the fifth round was “GRP’s decision and responsibility.”
“Contrary to the GRP allegations, the NPA operations cannot be attributed to the failure of the CPP-NPA-NDFP leadership to control their ground forces. Rather, they (CPP directives) are defensive and counter-offensive responses to the AFP provocative actions and offensive operations,” the NDFP, in a prepared statement, said.
The NDFP said the GRP is obscuring the fact that its forces “have been waging an ‘all-out-war’ against the NPA, conducting offensive operations and aerial bombings of communities regardless of ‘collateral damage’ – all on the direct and standing orders of President Duterte.”
Agcaoili said the GRP should consider stopping its all-out-war policy first before issuing “vague demands” to the NDFP.
Peace process to continue
The GRP said they are not terminating the entire peace process with the NDFP in their decision not to participate in the fifth round of talks.
The NDFP agreed with the GRP and said they expect their counterparts to respect previously-signed agreement such as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law as well the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees.
“We expect the GRP to respect the safety of our negotiators and consultants once they go home to the Philippines after this and as they go about their work as peace workers,” Agcaoili said.
Agcaoili also said they are willing to resume formal peace negotiations as soon as the GRP decides to go back to the negotiating table.
He also said the NDFP may seek an audience with President Duterte to seek clarifications in the near future.
“I would like to think that he (Duterte) still wants to sign a final peace agreement with the NDFP,” Agcaoili said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
May 28, 2017
Habang hindi pa pormal na binubuksan ang usapang pangkapayapaan, nagpalitan na ng mga pahayag ang magkabilang panig, ang GRP at NDFP, hinggil sa dapat pa bang ituloy ang 5th round of formal talks. Patuloy na naghihintay ang mga mamamahayag sa kahihinatnan ng pulong ng dalawang panig ngayong hapon.
The Netherlands, May 27, 2017
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel is recommending to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NDFP Executive Committee a reconsideration of the order to intensify attacks against Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) forces after Department of National Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statements against the New People’s Army (NPA).
Seeking to ease tensions on the eve of their fifth round of formal peace negotiations in this country caused by an exchange of accusations by GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III and the CPP yesterday, the NDFP’s chief political consultant said both the Left and the Duterte government must unite at this time against United States of America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-supported terrorism.
“The NDFP Negotiating Panel has recommended to the National Executive Committee of the NDFP and in effect the Central Committee of the CPP to reconsider the order to the NPA to intensify tactical offensives as response to the Lorenzana statement that the NPA is a target of martial law,” Sison said.
“The terrorist act by the Maute group should not be an obstacle to the fifth round of formal talks but should be an incentive to the GRP and NDFP to meet and agree to fight groups that are terrorist because they target, terrorize and harm civilians, solely or mainly,” he added.
Sison explained the GRP side has clarified that the NPA is not a target of President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law declaration in Mindanao last May 22 after the Maute Group group started its attack of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
“In fact President Duterte himself told (NDFP chief negotiator) Fidel Agcaoili in their recent meeting that the GRP and NDFP should unite against terrorist groups like the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf,” Sison said.
Sison added the NDFP are together with the GRP in opposing and fighting the ISIS-affiliated and CIA-supported groups like the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf.
“We in the NDFP condemn the attack by Maute group on Marawi City,” Sison said.
Earlier, NDFP-Mindanao condemned attack in Marawi City by the Maute Group and expressed concern and solidarity for the people of Marawi City.
Heated exchange
Yesterday, the CPP took exception to government chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III’s statements the underground party insulted Duterte and said martial law over the entire Mindanao region is an attack against the civil and political rights of the Filipino people.
“It curtails their freedom of movement and other freedoms. Martial law transfers these freedoms to the military and subjects the people to abuse. Under martial law, it is the military, these notorious abusers of human rights, who rule,” the CPP warned.
The CPP cited harassments already being conducted by government forces against civilians in Mindanao.
“In Davao City, with its overzealous martial law supporter Mayor Sarah Duterte, people in their communities are being rounded up. Close to three hundred people have already been arbitrarily arrested by the military for failing to comply with the arbitrary rules imposed by the military and the militarist-minded bureaucrats,” the CPP said.
Suara Bangsamoro- Socsksargen also reported about 30 women Lumad, Moro, pastors and church lay workers of the Ecumenical Women Forum were detained and interrogated by the 6th Marine Landing Battalion Team (MLBT) in Brgy. Domulon, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat at about 7:30 morning of May 25.
In an alert, the group said the interrogation lasted for more than an hour and the victims’ photos were taken.
The traumatized victims were on their way to attend their Capacity Building and Ecological Seminar Workshop and community integration when waylaid by government troopers.
“Duterte’s martial law is bound to be worse than its Oplan Tokhang. With these stringent policies, Duterte is demonstrating that under his martial law, everyone is a suspect until they can prove otherwise. As every Filipino knows, especially the poor and downtrodden, proving one’s innocence to the military is often impossible,’ the CPP said.
“As Duterte’s martial law is against the people, it is imperative for the New People’s Army (NPA) to take action to oppose and fight it in order to defend the people’s rights and interests,” the group said, explaining its earlier statement ordering its armed wing to conduct military operations against state forces in response to Duterte’s martial law declaration.
Yesterday, Bello scored CPP’s directive to the NPA to intensify attacks as “totally misplaced borne out of a grossly distorted appreciation of the President’s intention.”
“We are deeply disturbed that the CPP made a false reading of the intents of President Duterte in placing Mindanao under Martial Law,” Bello said in a statement, explaining the GRP chief executive saw the need “to restore law and order, protect the lives of the citizens and preserve private and state properties.”
Bello added the CPP’s order is senseless and betrays “the absence of sincerity of the CPP in the negotiating table.
He demanded the CPP recall its directive or be accused of abetting the “criminal and terror acts of the Maute group and a gang of Moro bandits.”
Bello denied Duterte’s martial law is also after the NPA.
“The President, in no uncertain terms, categorically declared he was not after the NPA,” he said.
“Loose Lorenzana”
Bello’s statement, however, runs counter to Lorenzana’s earlier statement that the NPA is one of the targets of Duterte’s Mindanao-wide martial law order.
In a press briefing last May 23, Lorenzana said Mindanao was placed under Martial Law “because there are also problems in Zamboanga, Sulu, Tawi-tawi and also in Central Mindanao in the BIFF (Bangsamoro Freedom Fighters) area.”
“We also have problems in Region 11, the extortion activities of the New People’s Army,” Lorenzana said in Filipino.
“If it was true that martial law in Mindanao is not directed against the NPA, then Bello must inform Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana,” the CPP countered.
“In announcing the declaration of martial law, it was Lorenzana himself who cited the NPA as one of the GRP’s ‘problems’ why the entire Mindanao had to be put under martial law,” it added.
Sison also scored Lorenzana’s statement, saying he deplores Lorenzana’s statement that the NPA is also a target of Mindanao-wide martial law. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
NATIONAL Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace negotiators Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria Tiamzon were again tailed by suspected elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañan Palace Tuesday night.
The Tiamzons noticed they were being tailed by two men riding separate motorcycles after meeting with Duterte and decided to go back to the farmers’ camp out on Mendiola Bridge they also visited earlier.
Anakpawis Representative Ariel Casilao, who was with the Tiamzons at Mendiola and Malacañan earlier, were among those who turned around and escorted the couple until they were able to reach safety at about ten in the evening.
“I immediately responded to their call and returned to the camp out. We waited for several minutes to assess the situation and plan how to respond. I communicated to Sec. Bong Go and appraised him of the situation and sought immediate intervention,” Casilao said.
“We managed to safely evade the tailing,” Casilao added.
The Tiamzons faced a similar incident last March 16 when they arrived from The Netherlands to participate in the backchannel talks with the Manila government negotiators that restored formal peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Duterte government.
The car that fetched the Tiamzons was successively tailed by a Toyota Land Cruiser and “two dark-skinned, burly men in civilian clothes riding a motorcycle” that they managed to elude when they took circuitous routes, switched cars and entered an expressway where small-engine motorcycles are prohibited.
The NDFP lodged a formal protest on the first incident with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) during the fourth round of formal negotiations last month at Noordwijk Aan Zee in The Netherlands.
The NDFP said in its protest that the incident was a “provocation” and a serious violation of the 1995 GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) as well as the Utrecht Joint Statement of March 11 regarding the safety and liberty of all the NDFP consultants.
It added the surveillance also ran counter to GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III’s written guarantee to the Royal Norwegian Government, Third Party Facilitator to the peace process, dated March 6 “assuring the safe and unhindered departure and arrival of the Tiamzons and NDFP consultant Vicente Ladlad from the special consultations in Utrecht.”
Time to confront Duterte
Former NDFP chief negotiator and current senior adviser Luis Jalandoni however urged stronger action against the AFP for the incident Tuesday night.
Asked to comment, Jalandoni said the NDFP Panel should strongly protest the incident and demand the military units involved are indentified and subjected to discipline.
“The response must be concrete. It must be brought up because while Duterte says he wants the peace negotiations to continue, he is not putting a stop to (Defense secretary Delfin) Lorenzana’s all-out war declaration and the things that (AFP chief of staff Eduardo) Año are doing,” Jalandoni said.
“If this is not given attention and action commensurate to the dangers (to the Tiamzons) and threats to the peace talks, mayroon pwedeng i-declare yung NDFP panel na mayroong big thing for the peace negotiations,” he added.
Jalandoni also revealed that NDFP consultants Pedro Codaste and Porferio Tuna are in grave danger from the AFP.
Jalandoni said the AFP in North-Central Mindanao has a shoot-to-kill order against Codaste and its Eastern Mindanao Command is aiming to abduct Tuna.
“It is up to the NDFP Panel to consider how this should be addressed, but it has to be very strong already. Hindi pwedeng magbibigay na lang uli ng report,” Jalandoni said.
AFP spokesperson B/Gen. Restituto Padilla has yet to reply to a request for comment. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
WITHOUT waiting for a copy of the announced Suspension of Military Operations order from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the New People’s Army (NPA) released two of its prisoners of war (POWs) this morning in Matan-Ao, Davao del Sur to a third party facilitator and local government officials.
The NPA’s Front 74 Mt. Alip Command turned over Philippine Army’s Sgt. Solaiman Calocop and Pfc. Samuel Garay to Rev. Redemeer Yañez, IFI of Koronadal and of the group Sowing the Seeds of Peace as well as Davao del Sur provincial administrator Marc Anthony Cagas.
The NPA reportedly held the turnover ceremony at Matan-Ao because it was not as militarized as Sultan Kudarat where Calocop and Garay were captured.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Far South Mindanao for its part said the release of the POWs was in accordance to the NPA’s commitment to comply with the Geneva Convention.
The NPA National Operations Command earlier complained it could not effect its announced release of five POWs because of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police’s refusal to suspend operations.
“Continuing offensive military and police operations in the Socsargen area have impeded the New People’s Army (NPA) from releasing two prisoners of war,” NPA spokesperson Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, in an April 12 statement, said.
The NPA said it planned to turn over Calocop and Garay to the third party facilitator last April 11 but cancelled because continuing military and police operations put the safety of the POWs, their families and third party facilitators at risk.
The POWs are soldiers of the 39th Infantry Battallion of the Philippine Army.
They were captured by the NPA in Columbia, Sultan Kudarat province last February 2.
The NPA is also set to to release three other POWs in Bukidnon and in the Caraga region. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
Davao del Sur provincial administrator Marc Anthony Cagas (in green shirt) congratulates the two soldiers on their release. (Photo by Radyo ni Juan Network)
