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GRP-NDFP closes successful round of talks with CASER advancements

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NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands–The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) defied odds and successfully concluded its fourth round of formal talks.

Affirming agreements on free land distribution, the round also forged an agreement on an interim joint ceasefire, committments on the release of prisoners of war and political prisoners, and others.

The parties agreed to hold the fifth round of formal talks in this seaside town on May 26 to June 2.

The NDFP and GRP talks: defying odds, fighting spoilers

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NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands—Defying odds, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panels pushed through with the opening ceremony of their fourth round of formal peace negotiations yesterday, April 3. Despite fears that GRP President Rodrigo Duterte’s new “barest conditionalities” may cause the talks’ cancellation, both panels worked feverishly until late Monday night to find enough common ground to still make the formal round possible.

The “commonness” was obvious on the press statement the NDFP released after the ceremony entitled “NDFP, GRP determined to resolve snags, move talks forward.”  Its first paragraph also said “both Parties express(ed) determination to resolve current problems and move the talks forward.” While the NDFP panel is not short on giving due credit to the current GRP panel headed by the veteran Silvestre Bello III, it is simply not every day it sees its counterpart deserving of high praise or “equal billing” in its own press statement.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza in his statement at yesterday’s opening ceremony said they are very confident the talks would be moving dramatically forward. “This is the farthest point that we have already achieved in our negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines(CPP)-New People’s Army (NPA)-National Democratic Front.  We are now in the fourth round of talks,” he said.

Dureza was wrong if he was referring to the number of rounds held or the number of agreements signed under one GRP administration.  The Fidel Ramos government forged 10 major agreements and statements with the NDFP between 1992 and 1998, including the all too important The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. The Ramos government and the NDFP also succeeded in hammering out additional agreements such as on the Role of the Third Party Facilitator, the Joint Monitoring Committee, and Joint Agreement in Support of Socio-Economic Projects of Private Development Organizations and Institutes.

Dureza was correct, however, if he was referring to the number of formal talks held in so short a time.  Under Duterte’s nine-month old government, there have been four formal rounds so far and two informal talks.  The first informal talk in June brought both parties back to the negotiating table after more than five years of impasse and the second held last month brought the stalled talks back on track after Duterte cancelled the formal talks.

This morning, the GRP and the NDFP have begun formal negotiations on at least two ceasefire proposals.  Both parties are shrugging off a shaky start characterized by an opening ceremony that has been postponed twice.  Various peace talks committees are now holding one meeting after another.

Some groups though are bent on depicting the “warm and cordial” period of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations are over.

Biggest failure

A naysayer is former GRP Negotiating Panel chairperson Alexander Padilla, former President Benigno Aquino’s chief negotiator with the NDFP. On ANC’s “Talkback” yesterday, Padilla scored both the NDFP and the GRP and said the ongoing peace negotiations are likely to fail.

First, Padilla said, none of the NDFP panel members represent nor have control of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.  “The NDF always says that the CPP-NPA is part of their organization but it’s not in reality. Even Benito Tiamzon, who is (sic) supposedly the leader before he was arrested, I don’t think he represents the CPP-NPA. None of the panel does,” he said. Second, Duterte’s four conditions are recipes for failure, Padilla added. “If you set conditions for the resumption of talks on either side, I think that’s a recipe for failure,” he said.

Padilla earned for himself a scathing riposte from the NDFP who said Padilla was in fact the biggest failure in the history of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

The NDFP said the talks with Padilla as GRP negotiating panel head did not progress an inch.  The group said Padilla in fact dragged the negotiations backward by trying to tear apart all the important agreements already signed, such as describing The Joint Hague Declaration as “a document of perpetual division” and implying there was really no need to negotiate socio-economic reforms. Padilla just wanted the NDFP to surrender, the NDFP said.

“That is why under his watch as head of the GRP negotiating panel, the talks could not proceed to the second item on social and economic reforms which even the GRP panel under Silvestre Bello acknowledges as the ‘heart and soul’ of the peace negotiations,” the NDFP said.

The NDFP slammed Padilla’s claim the NDFP do not represent the CPP and the NPA in the talks.  “He is implying that Pres. Duterte and the rest of the GRP panel are stupid for talking to these leaders,” the NDFP said.

“Padilla is known to be a ‘die-hard Yellow’ and wants the talks to fail under Duterte.  Padilla should shut up.  He is now irrelevant to the current peace talks,” the group added.

The former chief negotiator did not also get any sympathy from Duterte’s peace adviser. “Let him speak for himself,” Dureza said.

“Peace-spoiling by US-stooges”

But the biggest peace spoilers, as far as the Left is concerned, are not the “Yellows” but elements in the GRP’s own Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). In a statement, the CPP called Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año “US stooges seeking to derail the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations.”

The CPP complained that the AFP, directed by three of Duterte’s highest security officials, has embarked on an aerial bombardment campaign in Mindoro, Agusan del Norte and Davao Oriental, Abra, Agusan del Sur, Sarangani, Davao and other provinces in the past few days alone. AFP troops have also occupied Barangay Baglay in Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental, as well as other villages in Abra, Marilog, Sultan Kudarat and Mindoro, the CPP said. Moreover, AFP troops have also reportedly killed civilians Renel Mirabeles of Bagong Silang, Sipocot, Camarines Sur (March 30), Jeffrey Santos of Barangay Tagbinonga, Mati, Davao Oriental (March 30), and Danilo Nadal of Barangay Tibagun, Pantukan, Compostela Valley (April 2).

“Since February, close to 50 peasants and members of the national minority, mostly residents of areas which the state security forces suspect to be part of the NPA mass base, have been killed by operating troops of the AFP,” the CPP said.

“In waging aerial bombardments and a campaign of armed suppression against the people, they are, however, succeeding only in convincing thousands of people to support and join the New People’s Army,” the CPP added.

Before the GRP peace negotiators flew to this city for the ongoing round of talks, Lorenzana himself tagged the the CPP and NPA as “terrorists” and “thugs” which the CPP said goes against the January unilateral move of the GRP Negotiating Panel asking the United States to remove NDFP Chief Political Consultant Prof. Jose Ma. Sison from its terrorist listing.  Instead, Lorenzana insist the fourth round of peace talks be devoted to forging a bilateral ceasefire over the substantive agenda of socio-economic reforms.

“Lorenzana and his fellow US stooges are trying to prevent peace negotiations from moving forward in efforts to discuss and resolve the substantive socio-economic issues, especially the most crucial issues of genuine land reform and national industrialization,” the CPP in a statement said.

Socio-economic reforms and ceasefire

Indeed, the ongoing round of talks has problems.  While the NDFP stands pat on forging an agreement on socio-economic reforms before a bilateral ceasefire is signed, the GRP is now insisting on a bilateral truce accord so that Duterte will allow his negotiators to continue talking with the Left.

This difference in focus though, if anything, is making the negotiators, consultants, advisers and staff work even harder with simultaneous meetings and discussions.  Both panels are obviously “resolving snags” brought about by naysayers, military campaigns against civilian communities, and Duterte’s volatility. All the hard work, both parties say, are for them to “stay at the negotiating table.”

Despite a shaky start, this ongoing round of talks may still spring more surprises, achieving more agreements that would offer the Filipino people what The Hague Joint Declaration described as “just and lasting peace.”# (Text by Raymund B. Villanueva / Featured photo by Nwel Saturay)

 

 

 

 

 

Panels begin formal ceasefire negotiations

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NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands—The reciprocal ceasefire committees of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panels has begun their formal negotiations on at least two proposed truce modes this morning.

Said to be the most contentious issue on the approved agenda in this fourth round of talks, the parties ceasefire committees are discussing the GRP’s bilateral ceasefire proposal it first submitted at the third round of formal talks in Rome, Italy last January and the NDFP’s joint unilateral ceasefire declarations to be bound by a memorandum of understanding.

The panels have earlier discussed GRP’s new bilateral ceasefire proposal before the formal opening of this round following new instructions from Malacañan Palace in Manila.

GRP President Rodrigo Duterte has made a signed bilateral ceasefire agreement with the NDFP one of his four “barest conditionalities” in order for the peace talks to continue.

The conditionalities have caused the delay in the opening ceremony of the fourth round by a day to allow for the two parties to hold informal discussions on a bilateral interim ceasefire agreement demanded by Duterte.

GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III in a Malacañan news briefing last March 31 said he received only one marching order from Duterte: “Get me a ceasefire agreement.”

In his opening remarks at yesterday’s opening ceremony, however, NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison emphasized that the ceasefire agreement should not come before a comprehensive agreement on socio-economic reforms.

“It is possible for the GRP and NDFP Negotiating Panels to forge and sign the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) and the consequent joint ceasefire agreement,” Sison said.

“But I wish to stress as a matter of principle that the people demand that CASER be a step ahead of the joint ceasefire agreement, unless these agreements can be signed at the same time by the panels and then by the principals,” he said.

NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili echoed Sison’s statement, stressing the issue of ceasefire should not be pursued as an end in itself.

“Ceasefires, whether unilateral or bilateral, are just a means to an end. Its main purpose is to create conditions conducive to reaching agreements on basic re- forms that are satisfactory to both sides,” Agcaoili said.

“The NDFP believes it is possible to have a bilateral ceasefire agreement that conforms to the position that simultaneous and reciprocal declarations of unilateral ceasefire can be agreed upon and bound by a Memorandum of Understanding that shall be issued at the end of the fourth round of formal talks,” he added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

LARAWAN: Pormal na pagbubukas ng usapang pangkapayapaan

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The Netherlands
April 3, 2017

2nd Day: Everyone is hoping the barong Tagalogs would be worn today

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NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands— After a day’s delay, Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiators said they agreed to proceed with the opening ceremony of their fourth round of formal talks today.  Already announced before lunch time, the agreement became final at past nine in the evening yesterday. (Three o’clock Tuesday morning, Philippine time.)

“We will wear our barong Tagalog,” GRP Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said of the panels’ opening ceremony plans set at 10 o’clock this morning. (Four o’clock, Philippine time)

Relief among about a hundred peace consultants, advisers and staff as well as journalists covering the event greeted the announcement.  It had been a decade and a half when a formal round was last cancelled after the negotiators have arrived at the venue of the talks.

“Problem-solving”

Both GRP and NDFP negotiators are being positive in describing the delays in the formal opening of the talks.  Dureza said the delay is because of back-channel efforts to iron out issues before formal negotiations. “That way, everything is smoother during the formal talks,” he said.  NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili is saying the same: the parties are at a “problem-solving” stage.

They are not directly stating it, but GRP President Duterte’s new directives are probably the reasons for the delay.  Just as the opening ceremony was supposed to be held yesterday morning, Duterte in Cagayan de Oro City was rattling off about his four “barest conditionalities,” including a signed bilateral agreement and for the NDFP to stop collecting revolutionary tax, claim territories and for them to release of all their prisoners of war (POWs). These were probably what he called his negotiators about yesterday. In the past, conditionalities by a party beyond what The Hague Joint Declaration stated—addressing the roots of the armed conflict and bringing about a just and lasting peace—had always been rejected by the other.

But in response to Duterte, the NDFP has already assured the GRP of flexibility and willingness in discussing the latter’s bilateral ceasefire proposal.  “Because the GRP negotiating panel is coming to the Netherlands for the fourth round of formal talks, the NDFP negotiating panel is willing to be flexible and is open to discussing with its counterpart what kind of bilateral ceasefire agreement is desired by the GRP in place of the unilateral ceasefire,” NDFP panel Chairperson Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement last March 31.  “The NDFP is one with the GRP in desiring to resolve the serious concerns that have been raised in relation to the previous six-month unilateral ceasefires, mindful that addressing these issues is crucial to ensuring that any ceasefire agreement in the future would be more effective,” he added.  Obviously, the NDFP wanted the ceasefire proposal to be discussed in formal negotiations.

The NDFP has also repeatedly asked the GRP to suspend military and police operations to allow the safe release of more POWs.  The requests are unheeded and the New People’s Army (NPA) has only managed to release two of its POWs so far.  Meanwhile, the AFP seems happy to continue its all-out war against the Communist guerrillas.

While the Armed Forces of the Philippines is raining bombs on the countryside, Duterte said he wants a signed bilateral ceasefire agreement before the fourth round of talks can proceed.  His announcement also came after his National Security Council was convened and his Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana called the NPA as “terrorists,” “thugs” and “extortionists.”  The GRP has also decided not to reinstate its unilateral ceasefire declaration as agreed upon in their March 11 GRP-NDFP Utrecht Joint Statement, forcing the Communist Party of the Philippines to say it too would not longer declare a unilateral ceasefire due to the GRP’s refusal to reciprocate.

The difference in tone of the parties’ statements could not be more obvious.  Such has caused suspensions, cancellations, collapse, abortions and declarations of indefinite recess of formal negotiations in the past.

It would not have been the first time

If the opening ceremony would not push through this morning and the fourth round of formal talks would be cancelled altogether, it would not be the first time it would happen in the history of the 31-year GRP-NDFP peace talks.

On October 14, 1994 in De Bilt, The Netherlands, the GRP rejected the common draft drawn by the “small committees” on the joint agreement on safety and immunity guarantees and unilaterally declared a collapse of the talks.

In Brussels, Belgium on June 27, 1995, the GRP refused to release the late NDFP consultant Sotero Llamas and then President Fidel Ramos suspended the formal talks.

On April 22, 1997 in The Hague, The Netherlands, GRP declared an indefinite recess of the formal talks after NDFP rejected its “two options” proposal to amend The Hague Joint Declaration.

In Oslo, Norway on June 13, 2001, the GRP suspended formal talks in protest over the killing of the notorious Rodolfo Aguinaldo in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

On September 21, 2002, the GRP aborted the scheduled formal talks after the late Defense secretary Angelo Reyes convened a special meeting of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security which reversed a Cabinet decision chaired by then President Gloria Arroyo to resume formal talks with the NDFP.

It is notable that it had always been the GRP which cancelled the talks.

Chilly Noordwijk

It had turned chilly and foggy by the time the journalists decided there would be no more stories to be had at past nine o’clock last night and started their walk back to their respective hotels.  This seaside town was asleep and there were hardly locals who were out at that time.  At the Radisson Blu Hotel lobby, some GRP and NDFP negotiators clustered into groups discussing what the second day of the talks would be like.  The Royal Norwegian Government facilitators themselves were in a corner, probably discussing strategies for possible scenarios.

Dawn has broken here, but the sun, hidden behind a gloomy sky, has yet to make its presence felt.  Rains are predicted to fall on this historic city today.  But no announcement of cancellation of the opening ceremony has come during the night and the journalists are anticipating covering yet another formal talks opening ceremony.

Everyone seems to be hoping the barong Tagalogs would be worn this morning. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

LARAWAN: Pag-uusap hinggil sa tigil-putukan

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NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands
April 2, 2017

LARAWAN: Pag-uusap hinggil sa agenda

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NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands
April 2, 2017

Duterte call delays peace talks opening

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NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands—Even before it started, the fourth round of formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is proving to be “difficult and exacting.”

The GRP and NDFP negotiating panels announced the opening ceremony of their fourth round of formal talks is postponed to “around one or two o’clock in the afternoon” (six o seven o’clock in the evening, Philippine time) to allow discussions on President Rodrigo Duterte’s new instructions to his negotiators.

Speaking before hundreds of Filipino migrants in this country invited to attend the opening event originally scheduled this morning, GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III (GRP) said they received a call from Duterte which they would first discuss with the NDFP panel.

“We apologize for the delay,” Bello told the disappointed migrants.

NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili nonetheless invited the migrants to stay and wait for the opening ceremony.

“I know many of you took a long bus ride to attend the opening ceremony, but these things happen (during negotiations),” Agcaoili said.

Both the GRP and the NDFP refused to divulge the nature of Duterte’s call and its implications on the holding of this round of talks.

The panels initially agreed during their March 10 to 11 informal talks in Utrecht to focus on the socio-economic reforms and bilateral ceasefire agenda for this round of talks.

But Duterte said last March 25 he has to consult his security advisers on his government’s response to the Communist Party of the Philippines’ announcement to reinstate its unilateral ceasefire declaration in accordance with the GRP-NDFP Utrecht Joint Statement of March 11.

“I have to consult the Speaker. I have to consult the Senate President. I have to convene the National Security Council. And I have to ask the generals of the army and the police kung ano ba,” Duterte said.

After the National Security Council meeting last Friday, Bello announced the GRP has decided not to declare a unilateral ceasefire.

It has happened before

Delays in opening and closing ceremonies of formal talks have happened in the 2011 formal peace talks and in the first three rounds of negotiations with the Duterte government.

The 2011 formal peace talks, the only one under the previous Benigno Aquino government, was very nearly scrapped after long-time NDFP peace consultant Allan Jazmines was abducted by the AFP a few hours before the scheduled opening. # (Report by Raymund B. Villanueva. Featured photo by Jola Diones-Mamangun)

 

Joma, NDFP celebrate NPA anniversary in Amsterdam

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AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands–Prof. Jose Ma. Sison and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines International Office celebrated the 48th founding anniversary of the New People’s Army in this city last Friday with a program and film showing.

Featuring speeches and recent videos of NPA military parades, the event was Sison’s first public appearance after being discharged from the hospital due to pulmonary health problems.

Appearing rested and ready to participate the fourth round of formal peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, Joma talked about the film “A Guerilla is Like a Poet” which narrated how he and a handful of comrades founded the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army nearly five decades ago.

Here are some of the photos of the event attended by hundreds of Filipinos in The Netherlands and select NDFP delegates to the formal peace talks scheduled to begin today in Noordwick. (Photos by Jola Mamangun)

Urban poor calls for scrapping of Housing Act of 1992

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The Rodrigo Duterte government must step up in terms of providing mass housing, urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay)  said.

“For too long the public has been led to believe that social services, like housing, were only meant to be publicly funded but not publicly allocated. There is a housing crisis in the country, not only because the government’s 5.5 million backlog still stands but because the current setup of socialized housing is inherently anti-poor,” Kadamay secretary-general Carlito Badion said.

Among the issues Kadamay protested at a rally in front of Mendiola last March 13 was the National Housing Authority’s (NHA) insistence on the “socialized” housing scheme spelled out in Republic Act 7279, the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992.

Kadamay, however, rejects the scheme as its forces the poor to pay up on what should be a basic social service.

“The government and NHA insist that the urban poor, one of the most disenfranchised in our country, should pay for a basic right,” Badion said.

It is as if the houses being built and sold come with water, electricity and basic utilities, Badion added.

“Occupy Bulacan”

To force the Duterte government to finally act, Kadamay started occupying government housing units in Bulacan Province since March 8.

Kadamay said the houses comprise a small percentage of 53,000 units that have remained vacant for as long as five years.

The NHA has called their actions “illegal” while Duterte called Kadamay’s move as “anarchic.”

Kadamay condemned the statements, saying their actions would not have been necessary had the government acted on Duterte’s promise to distribute vacant housing units during last year’s Housing Summit.

“This is not the first time we have voiced our demands. We marched and presented our call for housing rights before the president. Our petitions have fallen on deaf ears,” he added.

Kadamay chairperson Gloria Arellano said they are not taking houses away from alleged rightful owners.

“That cannot be the case when there is nobody living in the houses,” she said.

Kadamay said their sector continue to suffer as when the Benigno Aquino government demolished their communities and forcibly evicted thousands of families from their houses.

“Duterte’s government is showing that Presidents past and present take the same stance against the interests of the poor,” Badion said.

They called for the scrapping of the UDHA, which they saw as an obstacle to their basic right to housing.

“By retaining the UDHA and the NHA’s corrupt practices, problems for the urban poor will keep repeating themselves. The UDHA must be scrapped to make way for free and mass housing for the poor,” Kadamay said. # (Abril Layad B. Ayroso)