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Joma twits Duterte on sex video remark

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President Rodrigo Duterte has a really confused mind, replying with off topic answers, Jose Maria Sison said.

“Magulo talaga ang utak ni Duterte. Siya ang tanungin kung bakit bigla niyang binabanggit si Leila de Lima at iyong umano’y sex video,” Sison said of the President’s reply to his earlier announcement the National Democractic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) could no longer negotiate peace with the Duterte government and would be more productive if it joins forces with the Oust-Duterte movement

In Paglao, Bohol hours after Sison’s issued his statement, Duterte mockingly asked what forces would join the NDFP in ousting him.

“What forces? Who is willing to join him [Sison]? [Senator Leila] de Lima? My God!” Duterte told reporters at the 25th annual convention of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines.

“Just watch the X-rated (video). It’s clear,” Duterte added, referring to the sex video that he alleged was of the detained de Lima.

“Non sequitur ang pagbanggit kay Leila de Lima,” Sison said.

‘Continue with the war’

Duterte said he is fine in continuing with the war against the Communist Party of the Philippines.

“If they are not willing to talk to me, that’s fine. I have no problem. So we continue with the war,” he said.

“If you want to overthrow my government, fine. If you are willing to talk, come here. If you don’t want, then it’s OK,” Duterte challenged Sison.

Duterte said he is wondering why Sison is not taking on his offer to let him visit the Philippines.

“Why is he not taking the chance of coming over? I might give to him the government on a silver platter,” he said.

Sison, however, said Duterte’s repeated offer to let him come home is a trap, as well as a violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees to have the talks be held in a foreign neutral venue.

“The change of venue is so that Duterte and the military can put the NDFP under their control, surveillance duress and manipulation,” Sison said.

“Si Duterte ang nanira sa peace negotiations: tatlong terminations magmula May 2017 at isang pakunwaring postponement na intended to end the peace negotiation with his demand that violates the JASIG provision for a neutral venue abroad,” Sison added.

Speaking to a forum in Quezon City via video streaming Thursday (June 28), Sison said that while NDFP is not completely closing the door on the peace negotiations, the NDFP will study very carefully any offer by the government to resume formal peace negotiations. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDFP could no longer negotiate with Duterte regime—Sison

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National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said they could no longer negotiate with a government headed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

In his strongest statement condemning Duterte’s repeated cancellation of formal talks yet, Sison said the Filipino people, especially the oppressed and exploited, cannot expect any benefit from negotiating with Duterte’s government, adding the president has broken so many promises related to the peace process.

“It is relatively easier and more productive for the NDFP to participate in the Oust-Duterte movement and to prepare for peace negotiations with the prospective administration that replaces the Duterte regime,” Sison said Thursday (June 28).

Sison said the Duterte regime is on record as having terminated the peace talks so many times that it is indubitably responsible for the termination of peace negotiations.

“It is therefore just for the revolutionary forces and the people to wage people´s war for national liberation and democracy,” Sison said.

Sison added that it would be well and good if Duterte withdraws finally from the peace negotiations with the NDFP.

But, in so doing, Duterte would deprive himself of the opportunity of creating false illusions that he is for peace, Sison said.

“He stands isolated and ripe for ouster by the broad united front of patriotic and democratic forces,” Sison said.

Duterte’s many lies

In a two part statement, Sison mentioned several promises broken by Duterte, including an unsolicited declaration on May 16, 2016 to amnesty and release all political prisoners.

Duterte only released 19 NDFP peace consultants in August 2016 to allow them to participate in the talks while about 520 NDFP-listed others remain in various detention facilities nationwide.

Duterte has also terminated the peace negotiations with the NDFP three times since May 2017, even fouling up every attempt to resume formal talks through back channel efforts, Sison said.

After terminating the peace negotiations for the third time in November and December 2017, Duterte issued Proclamation 360 to terminate the peace negotiations and Proclamation 374 to designate the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.

The Department of Justice subsequently filed a case before the Manila regional trial court (RTC) to seek the proscription of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) and 600 individuals as terrorists.

“These are definitely obstacles to the resumption of peace negotiations with Duterte regime,” Sison said.

“Warm and cordial” start

NDFP’s negotiations with the Duterte government started well with the first two formal rounds of talks in Oslo, Norway described as “warm and cordial.”

Things turned sour, however, when a Philippine Army unit attacked an NPA camp in Arakan, North Cotabato in January 2017, killing an NPA fighter.

The attack came while the third round of formal talks just approved free land distribution as the centerpiece of a prospective agrarian reform and rural development agreement.

The five-month ceasefire in effect at the time, the longest between the NPA and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was subsequently cancelled by both parties.

The fourth round of formal talks in Noordwijk, The Netherlands in April 2017 was very nearly cancelled due to the insistence of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panel to negotiate a bilateral ceasefire agreement before further negotiations on social and economic reforms can proceed.

GRP negotiators explained that a bilateral ceasefire agreement are goodwill measures that would provide a conducive atmosphere for the continuation of formal talks.

No fifth round of formal talks has yet pushed through despite the arrival of GRP negotiators in Noordwijk in May and  November 2017.

“The aforesaid actions of Duterte would have been enough bases for the NDFP to conclude that he is not at all interested in peace negotiations,” Sison said.

The CPP founder said the NDFP persevered and worked out a number of agreements with GRP representatives in back channel talks from March to June 2018, due in great part to the demands of peace advocates to remain on the negotiating table.

“The most important of these would have constituted the Interim Peace Agreement at the resumption of formal talks in Oslo from June 28 to 30,” Sison said.

The real reasons

Sison said the AFP and PNP’s wish to carry out to the end of 2018 their campaign plan to supposedly to finish off the NPA as well as to change the venue of peace talks to Manila are the real reasons why Duterte has canceled the resumption of peace talks in Oslo.

The change of venue is so that Duterte and the military can put the NDFP under their control, surveillance duress and manipulation, Sison said.

He said Ðuterte pretends to review in three months the entire process and all agreements in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations since 1992.

“By all indications, he will try to change the entire peace process and waste previous agreements. At any rate, he will try to impose on the NDFP changes that the NDFP will certainly reject,” he explained. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

KMP: AFP-PNP ‘misencounter’ bound to happen

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Farmer’s group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the so-called mis-encounter between government troops earlier this week in Sta. Rita, Samar is inevitable under President Rodrigo Duterte’s counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan.

“The government’s own policy Oplan Kapayapaan and not Murphy’s Law is responsible for the mis-encounter between the 1st Platoon, 805th Company, Regional Mobile Force Battalion 8 of the Philippine National Police and the 87th Infantry Battalion Philippine Army troops in Sitio Lonoy, Barangay San Roque, Sta Rita, Samar,” KMP said in a statement.

Six police were killed and nine were wounded in the incident both the Armed forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) blamed on improper coordination.

“There was coordination. We just do not know down to what level the coordination reached,” PNP director general Oscar Albayalde said Wednesday.

The AFP said its troopers suffered no casualties.

According to news reports, the AFP’s 87th IBPA have mistaken the police troops as New People’s Army guerillas. Both units were conducting counterinsurgency operations.

The KMP, whose members have complained of being target of the government’s counterinsurgency operations said such occurrences are bound to happen.

“Wala nang sini-sino ang mga tropa ng gobyerno, kahit sila-sila nagpapatayan na. Government troops are ready to fire a gun at the least provocation, regardless of the situation or probable consequences,” KMP said.

The mis-encounter shows how indiscriminate government troops are in their conduct of military operations, particularly the Community Operations for Peace and Development (COPD) and Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP). No more protocols, no more observance of international humanitarian laws, the group added.

“Kahit sino na lang pinaghihinalaan na NPA. Lalo na ang mga magsasaka, pinagbibintangang NPA, saka huhulihin at ito-tortyur ng militar. Ang AFP kapag may nasalubong na magsasaka sa bundok, pagbibintangan agad na NPA. With the heightened militarization and military operations in rural areas, misencounters among government troops are likely to happen,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said.

At present, there are seven AFP battalions in Eastern Visayas – 20th, 43rd, 14th, 87th, 52nd, 19th and 78th Infantry Battalions under the 8th Infantry Division, KMP revealed.

SAGUPA-SB, KMP’s chapter in Eastern Visayas said it is common for Community Support Programs (CSP) and Peace and Development Teams (PDT) of the AFP, under Oplan Kapayapaan, to ‘loiter’ and conduct counterinsurgency operations in the hinterlands.

“Government troops encamp and operate in civilian areas,” SAGUPA-SB said.

KMP called on the Duterte government to resume the cancelled peace talks with the NDFP and make way for a possible stand down of forces to deescalate heavy military presence in peasant communities. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

A matter of time

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By Prof. Luis V. Teodoro

The killing of three priests over the last six months — of Fr. Marcelito Paez last December, 2017, Fr. Mark Ventura in April, and Fr. Richmond Nilo this June — has provoked both outrage as well as fears that it is part of the Duterte regime’s campaign to silence its critics.

Priests have been murdered in this country and in the rest of the world for years. Among dozens of others in Latin America, while saying mass in 1980, El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated by a death squad for his opposition to dictatorship, injustice and torture. In the Philippines, 32 clergymen and church workers, 16 of whom were Catholic priests, have been killed since the Marcos regime (1965-1986).

The online news site MindaNews lists 13 priests killed from 1971, when Marcos was in his second term, to 2011 during the Benigno Aquino III administration.

Fr. Nelson Javellana was ambushed in Maguindanao in 1971, Fr. Godofredo Alingal killed in Bukidnon in 1981, and Fr. Tullio Favali in North Cotabato in 1985.

Anti-illegal logging activist Fr. Mario Estorba was killed in Agusan del Sur in 1988, followed by Fr. Dionisio Malalay who was slain in Zamboanga del Sur in1989, and Fr. Nerylito Satur in 1991. All three killings happened during the Corazon Aquino post-martial law administration.

Bishop Benjamin de Jesus was killed in 1997 during the Fidel Ramos term, and Fr. Rhoel Gallardo of Basilan and Fr. Benjamin Inocencio of Jolo in 2000 during the brief presidency of Joseph Estrada .

Two priests were killed during the nine years that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was president : Fr. Rufus Haley in 2001, and Fr. Reynaldo Roda in 2008. One priest, Fr. Fausto Tentorio, was killed in 2011 during the Benigno Aquino III administration.

These 13 plus the three killed during the present regime add up to 16 priests murdered in the last 47 years. Only the killers of Fr. Favali in 1985 have been punished: together with his men, the leader of the paramilitary group responsible was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment, but was pardoned after 23 years in prison.

The Duterte regime can very well argue that the killing of priests is not a phenomenon unique to it, and that rather than part of a policy to intimidate the Church, the killings do not reveal any pattern but are likely to have been due to any number of motives .

But all the priests killed did have something in common: their being political and social activists, and their commitment to the defense of the poor and powerless. All were human rights defenders. Some were fighting for indigenous people’s rights, others for the environment, for a just and lasting peace, for equality and social justice, and against militarization and peasant and worker exploitation.

The killings suggest that they were carried out by those groups and forces hostile to those advocacies. The economic, social and political issues and problems the slain priests were addressing are still with us, and continue to demand the engagement of everyone, including the clergy, who sincerely care for this country and its people.

All post-Marcos administrations up to Benigno Aquino III’s at least paid lip service to the need for justice for the slain priests, and none of them ever suggested that the killings were justifiable. The Philippine National Police as of this writing has announced the arrest of a suspect in the killing of Fr. Nilo. But President Rodrigo Duterte’s most recent statements have laid the blame on the fatalities themselves, thereby suggesting that the killings can be blithely explained away, or even justified. And only Mr. Duterte’s subordinates have issued the usual assurances about going after the killers.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Duterte blamed the journalists who have been killed in this country for their own murders because they were all supposedly corrupt. He is similarly blaming the slain today by claiming that despite their vows of celibacy, priests are no different from him in that they too have had affairs with women. He followed this up, prior to the murder of Fr. Nilo, with attacks on the Catholic Church and even on God Himself.

Neither corruption nor immorality justifies anyone’s being killed, whether judicially or extrajudicially. If they did, every other government official would deserve a lethal injection, or a bullet in the head from the usual police and motorcycle-riding assassins. But the current President of the Philippines seems to think that these failings, like the use of illegal drugs, are capital offenses.

His tirades and profanities against Catholic priests and the Church itself, just like his justifying the killing of journalists — like Benigno Aquino III’s own verbal attacks on the press and media during his term — are also likely to encourage more killings. But this is to assume that it would be merely incidental and unintentional, and there is no regime policy to do away with its critics in the clergy and other “troublesome” sectors like the independent press.

Such a policy would after all be in direct contradiction with the government responsibility of protecting its citizens. But the context in which the killing of progressive and activist priests is happening nevertheless invites the conclusion that such a policy does exist.

In apparent fear of being ousted from power–he has even announced that China will protect him if there are ever such attempts–Mr. Duterte has attacked independent journalists on the assumption that the truth-telling responsibility of a free press is likely to help remove him from office. He and his police and military bureaucrats may be entertaining the same thoughts about the activist clergy and even the Catholic Church itself.

He may not be entirely mistaken. The institutional Catholic Church has always been conservative. But there are nevertheless individuals within it who believe in seeking justice though the heavens fall– who defend human rights, who fight for social change, peace and independence, and who, in the process, have themselves become the targets of State repression.

Even prior to the EDSA 1 civilian-military mutiny, progressive clergymen and women were already in the broad resistance against the dictatorship, and helped commit the Catholic Church to the overthrow of the Marcos terror regime. The free press and media were similarly pivotal in that historic enterprise. The crucial roles of the press and the clergy in the political upheaval of 1986 may help explain the Duterte regime’s antipathy for both.

The irony is that Mr. Duterte’s attacks on the Catholic Church and priesthood are fueling the simmering outrage against his regime that he fears can lead to his overthrow, just as his assault on independent journalists and their organizations has convinced responsible practitioners of the need for critical attention to his regime’s acts and policies.

Neither all the clergy and the entire Church, nor all journalists and their organizations, have as yet forged the unity resistance to autocratic rule demands. But thanks to Mr. Duterte’s own doing, among them his enshrinement of killing and police and military impunity as State policy, today as in the months, weeks and days before EDSA 1, it may only be a matter of time before it is achieved together with the workers, farmers, students, academics, urban poor, women, and indigenous and Moro people who believe that an alternative to the reign of assassins is both necessary and possible.

First published in BusinessWorld. Photo from PCOO. / Prof. Teodoro is chairperson of the People’s Alternative Media Network

#BabaeAko campaign unites women in challenging the sexist behavior of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

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This article by Karlo Mongaya is from Global Voices, an international and multilingual news site, and is republished on Kodao Productions as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Women’s rights advocates in the Philippines have launched the #BabaeAko (I am a woman) campaign aimed at calling out the “anti-women” remarks and behavior of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The campaign recently mobilized social media support after Duterte was criticized for kissing a married woman on the lips amidst the cheers of his supporters in a public function in Seoul, South Korea on June 3, 2018.

One aspect of the campaign encouraged women to post a video message addressed to Duterte followed by a pledge of “lalaban ako” (I will fight back).

Government spokesmen have justified the “kissing scene” as a “light moment” that is “accepted in Filipino culture” while Duterte himself boasted that “we enjoyed it” and that critics “are just envious”. To his critics, however, the event exhibited in full view Duterte’s notion of women as mere objects of desire and entertainment.

The #BabaeAko social media campaign was launched on May 20, 2018, shortly after Duterte made a statement that the next ombudsman should not be a woman. He has cursed UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard, put opposition Senator Leila de Lima in jail, and ousted Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno from office, among others.

Callamard, De Lima, and Sereno are all vocal critics of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs that has, according to some estimates, already killed over 20,000 people.

Duterte is notorious for giving rape jokes in his official speeches, having catcalled a female reporter in a press conference, and even having ordered troops to shoot female communist rebels in the genitals.

Below are some #BabaeAko posts on Facebook. This is by the Gabriela Women’s Party representative in Congress, Arlene Brosas:

I am a woman, Arlene Brosas, Gabriela Women’s Party representative in Congress. I am opposed to the macho, fascist, patriarchal, and feudal culture of the Duterte regime. I will fight back.

This is from a video by Judy Taguiwalo, a university professor and former cabinet member turned staunch critic of the Duterte administration:

I am a woman, Judy Taguiwalo, a patriotic teacher. I thought Duterte serves the Filipino people. It turns out he is subservient to [late dictator of the Philippines Ferdinand] Marcos, [former president of the Philippines] Gloria [Arroyo], [US President] Trump and China. For this just and free nation, I will fight back.

The next transcript is from a video by theater artist and activist Mae Paner, better known as Juana Change:

I am a woman, I am Juana Change, a patriotic artist. Through my art, I will continue to fight for truth and reason, justice and freedom, to the best of my ability. We will reckon with each other. I will fight back.

This is from a video by veteran journalist and press freedom advocate Inday Varona:

Babae ako, si Inday Espina Varona, isang lola. [I am a woman, Inday Varona, a grandmother.] I will not allow my grandchildren to grow up in a world without due process, where a President thinks of death and murder as the solution to social problems. Kaya lalaban ako. [Thus I will fight back.]

Here are some #BabaeAko posts on Twitter:

In response, officials at Malacañan Palace (the official residence of the president) threw shade at the #BabaeAko campaign, saying this was merely “politically-motivated” against the president. Duterte then vowed to resign if “enough women” protest his controversial kiss. A #BabaeAko protest was held on Philippine Independence Day, June 12, in major cities in the country. #

 

 

 

 

‘The fight goes on’ – Sister Pat

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By April Burcer

“A small step towards success,” was how Sister Patricia Fox, NDS described the Department of Justice’ (DOJ) decision to declare null and void Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) order revoking her missionary visa and order for her to leave the country within 30 days.

She was grateful for the June 18 DOJ decision, saying, “I was very relieved because I was unsure what my status would be after today. I’m relieved that the Secretary of Justice came out with that decision.”

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra nullified the BI’s forfeiting of Fox’s visa, saying that forfeiture of visa is not part of the Immigration Law’s implementing rules and regulations. Sr Pat received the good news while preparing for a Mass at Quiapo and a candle lighting event at Plaza Miranda.

Sr Pat has been staying in the Philippines for more than 27 years and helping farmers, workers, indigenous peoples, and the poor in their fight against human rights violations, poverty and other injustices.

Last April, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a probe into Sr Pat’s activities in the country, accusing her further of having a ‘foul mouth’ and ‘disorderly conduct.’ She was subsequently taken to the BI and detained for nearly 24 hours.

Her detention caused both a national and international uproar. Her supporters belied the Australian nun ever called for Duterte’s ouster nor has she ever spoke ill against the Philippines and its people. People from all walks of life expressed their support to the beleaguered nun and made her an instant celebrity.

On numerous occasions, the nun was driven to happy tears by the outpouring of support for her and expression of gratitude for having served the Filipinos. In one instance, youngsters shouted “We love you, Sr Pat!” from their car window when they recognized her riding another vehicle.

What now?

“The thing is that the DOJ said the BI didn’t have legal basis to cancel my visa. But as far as I know, the BI is still pursuing a deportation case,” Sr Pat said when asked what her next step is.

Guevarra said that Sr Pat’s case will be treated as visa cancellation where evidence will have to be presented during the hearings.

On May 30, lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc of the House of Representatives filed a bill seeking to grant Filipino citizenship to Sr Pat.

Composed of Anakpawis Representative Ariel Casilao, ACT Teachers Representatives Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate, Gabriela Women’s Party Representatives Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Representative Sarah Elago, the bloc announced that the citizenship will be a fitting recognition for all the services the Australian has contributed to the Filipino people.

When asked whether she has plans to continue her work even with the deportation case still ongoing, Sr Pat answered, “As long as I can.”

In her message during an Eid’l Fit’r Solidarity Affair last week, Sr Pat said that the social injustices are caused by a system that does not recognize the rights of the people, which is also the root of the problems she is facing right now.

“I am already a Filipino, I want to stay here,” she repeatedly told her supporters. #

‘There’s no such thing as tambay culture’

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“There is no such thing as a tambay culture. That practice is a result of workers’ ways of dealing with precarious work, it’s how the jobless deal with joblessness, and joblessness as we all know is a result of a backward non-industrial economy based on export orientation and import-dependence.” —Prof. Sarah Raymundo, sociologist

A meme by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers on the issue of President Duterte’s order to the Philippine National Police to arrest loiterers in communities.

Duterte insincere on talks – peace groups

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By April Burcer

June 21 should have been the day “Stand Down Agreement” between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is signed, but the ceasefire did not push through because of the government’s decision to cancel formal talks between the parties.

In the “Are GRP-NDFP Peace Talks Still Possible with Pres. Duterte?” forum Thursday hosted by the group Pilgrims for Peace, Rey Casambre of the Philippine Peace Center said the Rodrigo Duterte government’s cancellation of the signing and implementation of the stand down agreement as well as the resumption of formal negotiations next week shows its insincerity in pursuing peace.

According to Casambre, another backchannel session is supposed to be the held as a final preparatory meeting being the government panel and NDFP finally resume formal negotiations.

Casambre also recalled that Duterte cancelled the fifth round of talks in May 2017 even as “all members of both panels as well third-party facilitators are already in The Netherlands.”

There have been three other attempts to hold the fifth round of formal talks in Europe, but were all cancelled by Duterte.

Last November, Duterte again cancelled at the 11th hours even after his negotiators have assembled in Europe for their third attempt at a fifth round of formal talks with the NDFP.

Duterte subsequently issued his Proclamation 360 on November 23 declaring the unilateral termination of the peace negotiations.

Even then, Duterte’s Proclamation 360 failed to follow the agreed process of talks termination, said Casambre.

“Any party can terminate the peace talks but there is a proper procedure. A written notice should be sent by the party who wants to terminate the peace talks. And there is another 30 days after receipt before the agreement is officially terminated. There was no written notice, it’s [just] a public declaration,” Casambre explained.

Duterte later added the issuance of Proclamation 374 declaring NDFP allied organizations, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA), as terrorist organizations.

Six hundred personalities were later listed by the Department of Justice as people behind the CPP and the NPA, including United Nations rapporteurs.

Bad Signal

It is not only with the NDFP that Duterte is insincere in talking peace, a Bangsamoro group said.

“For example, with the BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law), even though it has been signed, we can only describe it as mangled, a sham, because the government can change it anytime. So the sincerity is a big question,”Jerome Succor Aba of SANDUGO and Moro Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA) said.

“The postponement of the peace talks brings a bad signal to the people of Mindanao. If there’s no peace talks, the human rights violations will double,” Aba said.

As the center of the armed conflict, Mindanao “calls for the resumption of the peace talks and honoring the agreements because what is happening in the peace talks have impact on the people,” Aba added.

He said, “We noticed that the time when the Proclamations 360 and 374 were issued were also the times when the military attacks in Mindanao were heightened. Since Martial Law was declared, more than 500,000 civilians evacuated from the area of conflict. Every week, farmers, Lumads and Moro are being killed.”

“What the AFP and Duterte government doesn’t realize is that Martial Law, in history, is what prompted the people to fight for freedom,” warned SANDUGO’s Kerlan Fanagel.

Disappointment and hope

Pilgrims for Peace and other peace advocates also expressed disappointment with the repeated postponement of the resumption of the formal talks.

“We want the peace negotiations to continue, to resolve the roots of the armed conflict. The bigger peace table with the Philippine citizenry has been on-going throughout the negotiations. The Filipino people want peace: both the peace that is the absence of armed conflict and, more importantly, peace that can be aided through agreeemnts like the anticipated Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforems (CASER),” the PFP statement said.

Casambre, however, said there is still hope for the peace talks.

“Yes, because there’s a people. Because when there’s a crisis, the people would make the parties go back to the peace negotiations,” Casambre said. #

Local, int’l groups urge resumption of GRP-NDFP talks

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National church organization and an international lawyers’ group urged the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to resume formal peace talks, following yet another cancellation by President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a gathering at Cagayan de Oro City Thursday, June 21, members of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), the Mindanao Peace Forum/Dialogue for Land and Peace and the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform called on both the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) to go back to the peace negotiating table.

They were joined by recently-elected barangays officials who the groups said are “crucial in the promotion of just peace in their communities.”

“The gathering also gave time for representatives from local government units and national legislators to share their perspectives on the peace process, for sectoral leaders to express their yearnings for social and economic reforms and the defense of human rights, and for church people to deepen their commitment to our common struggle for Shalom,” RMP, through its national coordinator Sr. Elenita Belardo, RGS said.

Co-organizers of the peace forum included the National Anti-Poverty Commission, the Sisters Association of Mindanao, and Sowing the Seeds for Peace.

In separate statements Thursday, both the GRP and the NDFP said Duterte wanted a three-month period to review documents and agreements forged by the parties before discussions on the resumption of formal negotiations can again be entertained.

In Brussels, Belgium, a global organization of human rights lawyers joined calls for the resumption of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the underground national liberation movement in the country.

Members of the IADL’s Governing Bureau during their meeting in Brussels, Belgium. (Supplied photo)

Members of the Governing Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) who just concluded its two-day meeting in Brussels passed a resolution “urging the GRP and the NDFP to honor and abide by their agreements and resume their peace negotiations in a foreign neutral venue in order to try to resolve the basic issues of the Philippine armed conflict so that the Filipino people can attain a just and stable peace.”

The lawyers from 17 countries in six continents attending the biannual meeting said that they were “informed that the Philippine government is again persistently demanding that the peace negotiations be held in Manila, a position divergent from a binding agreement between the parties that it be held in a foreign neutral venue.”

The lawyers were alluding to the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) the parties signed in 1995.

The progressive lawyers from Algeria, Belgium, Brazil, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, Philippines, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa and Togo pointed out that “mainly for security reasons, history and universal practice teach us that most, if not all, peace negotiations between two warring parties were generally held in a foreign neutral venue outside the country or territories where their respective armed forces are.”

Founded in 1946 in Paris, France, the IADL, which has consultative status with the United Nations, also has members in Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cuba, France, Germany, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, South Korea, North Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, Puerto Rico. Spain, Turkey and Vietnam.

Its founders and leaders were part of the drafting of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Nuremberg trials and the anti-apartheid movement.

IADL lawyers have helped to establish fundamental concepts of international and domestic law including the provision of prisoner of war status to combatants from liberation movements and the recognized legal right of peoples to self-determination.# (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Supporters demand release of political prisoners

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As President Rodrigo Duterte postponed yet again the resumption of its formal peace negotiations between his government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the chances of more than 500 political prisoners to be given general amnesty has again been put into doubt.

Human rights defenders held a protest march from Plaza Salamanca to the Department of Justice offices along Padre Faura Street in Manila last June 20 to condemn the continued incarceration of political prisoners.