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‘Historic’ peace talks end successfully with 6 agreements; panels agree to meet again in October

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OSLO, Norway—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) signed six major agreements at the end of their five-day “friendly and cordial” formal peace talks.

The negotiations ended as it began–with laughter and banter that reflected “historic and unprecedented” achievements:

  1. Reaffirmation of previously-signed agreements;
  2. Reconstitution of NDFP’s list of Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG)-protected personnel;
  3. Acceleration of the peace negotiations with a set timeline for the three remaining substantive agenda—socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and cessation of hostilities and disposition of forces;
  4. Release of political prisoners in pursuit of peace and in due consideration of the JASIG;
  5. The GRP will recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte the issuance of an amnesty proclamation of NDFP-listed political prisoners, including those convicted for their political beliefs, subject to concurrence of Congress; and
  6. The Communist Party of the Philippines will declare a new indefinite unilateral ceasefire by the New People’s Army and the People’s Militias effective August 28 in response to Duterte’s indefinite and unilateral ceasefire which took effective August 21.

The GRP and NDFP panels also agreed to meet again for the second round of formal talks on October 8-12 in Oslo, Norway.

Both panels said their new agreements reversed the frustrations of the past 15 years and put the peace process back on track.

Duterte’s direct hand

Both panels credited Duterte’s “brave and unique” approach to peace-building for the success of the first round of talks.

“We cannot achieve this successful and very significant step forward in the peace negotiations without the strong commitment of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and the spirit of goodwill and friendliness of our counterparts,” said Luis Jalandoni, Chair of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, in his closing statement.

“Not only has President Duterte walked the extra mile. He has also taken a step back to give the NDF space under his democratic and inclusive government,” Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza for his part said.

NDFP panel member said Coni Ledesma said that the talks reflected the Duterte government’s determination to seek peace through negotiations with CPP, NPA and the NDFP.

“It is like black to white. Malaki ang kaibahan ng Duterte administration sa mga nakaraang rehimen,” Ledesma said.

What went before

Previous GRP panels under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Aquino governments failed in reaching as many agreements with the NDFP in their formal talks in 2004 and 2011, respectively.

While the Duterte government’s peace panel agreed with the NDFP to reaffirm all 10 major agreements forged under the Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada governments, the Arroyo and Aquino governments sought to dismiss them.

Teresita Deles, peace adviser to both the Arroyo and Aquino, was reported to have said that The Hague Joint Declaration is “a document of perpetual division” while immediate past GRP panel head Alexander Padilla wanted a new track separate from the declaration.

Deles has also reportedly petitioned the Royal Norwegian Government, third party facilitator to the peace negotiations, to stop funding the GRP-NDFP Joint Secretariat of the JMC-CARHRIHL.

Vital participation of consultants and advisers

At this morning’s closing ceremony, both panels acknowledged each other’s consultants and advisers who directly participated in the formal talks.

Sixteen NDFP consultants recently released from various prisons across the Philippines were able to join the negotiations.

Also released but failed to join the talks were Loida Magpatoc and couple Alex and Winona Birondo.  The Birondos have yet to secure their passports from the Department of Foreign Affairs while Magpatoc is still on her way to Europe from Manila.

Not released in time for the first round of talks were political detainees Renato Baleros Sr. and Edgardo Friginal.

The NDFP are also asking for the immediate release of convicted consultants Emeterio Antalan, Leopoldo Caloza and Eduardo Sarmiento from The National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

The GRP for its part presented Tarlac congressman Victor Yap as its panel adviser for the House of Representatives while Quezon City and Angeles City mayors Herbert Bautista and Edgardo Pamintuan, respectively, were presented as peace advisers for local government units.

Historical

GRP negotiating panel chair Silvestre Bello III thanked the NDFP for its patience and candidness and said he is looking forward to forging a final peace agreement with their counterparts.

NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison added that the closing of the first round of talks is historical.

 “Maluwag ang pagtanggap ng parehong panig sa paninindigan ng bawat isa. Parehong  naghanap ng mapagkaka-isahan,” Sison said.

As the closing ceremony concluded, both panels, their consultants-advisers and respective staff sang the ‘Happy Birthday’ song for newly-released NDFP Consultant for Panay Concha Araneta-Bocala who is celebrating her 66th birthday today. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

Talks hit ‘minor bumps’ on 3rd day but remain ahead of schedule

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OSLO, Norway—The ongoing formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have hit minor bumps on some issues but remain “slightly ahead of schedule.”

GRP panel chair Silvestre Bello III said there have been minor difficulties but both panels were able to meet their schedule at the end of their third day of negotiations.

“Na-stall lang kami dun sa last two issues—general amnesty and mode of interim ceasefire,” Bello said.

“But we already have a common statement ready, except for the formulation of our statement on amnesty and ceasefire,” he added.

Bello said the panels agreed to devote the fourth day of the negotiations on these last two issues.

NDFP panel member and spokesperson Fidel Agcaoili said that reciprocal working groups each met Wednesday morning and reported their recommendations to the negotiating panels near midday.

“It is a good thing that a bigger number of NDFP consultants are now able to directly participate and their presence here contributes to the faster pace of the talks,” Agcaoili said.

Ceasefire extention

Bello said the GRP is expecting the NDFP to declare an extension of its ongoing seven-day unilateral ceasefire in response to the “smooth and cordial” talks.

“Although, of course, the decision remains with them (NDFP).  But from all indications, mukhang ganun .  Tinitingnan mo ang body language nila e,” Bello said.

NDFP’s Agcaoili, however, says the NDFP have yet to decide on the possibility of extending their ceasefire declaration.

“Pag-uusapan pa iyan bukas (Thursday),” Agcaoili said.

The Communist Party of the Philippines has declared a unilateral ceasefire from August 21 to 27 while President Rodrigo Duterte issued a unilateral open-ended ceasefire starting August 21.

“Yung kay Presidente, walang timeframe.  Depende sa developments on when he (Duterte) will decide to lift it,” Bello said.

Schedule of next meetings

Bello also disclosed that the meetings of the different working groups and the committee on socio-economic reforms went quicker than expected.

“Medyo matagal-tagal yung sa CASER (Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms). It took them two hours.  But the meeting on Political and Constitutional Reforms, I think only 30 minutes,” Bello said.

“May nagsabi pa ngang iyung End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces (working group) ay nine minutes lang,” he said.

Bello also said that other meetings have already been scheduled after the first round for formal talks.

“Mayroon na.  In the report of the committees, may initial dates na. The Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC, of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respet for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law) already mentioned September 20 to 23,” Bello said.

The GRP under the Gloria Arroyo and Benigno Aquino governments have never agreed to convene the JMC despite its formation in 2004 and the existence of a Joint Secretariat based in Cubao, Quezon City.

Bello said the JMC meeting, which will probably be held in Manila, will probably talk about the thousands of human rights complaints it received in the past 12 years.

“So maganda ang daloy ng pag-uusap,” Bello said.

The talks took a break Wednesday afternoon. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

 

 

 

STREETWISE: History in the making

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Streetwise
by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
History in the making
The past weeks have been a roller coaster ride for many of us – human rights activists working hard for the release of political prisoners, the political prisoners themselves and their loved ones, peace advocates mobilizing public support for the resumption of peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philipines (NDFP) and no doubt even the two negotiating panels.
Will the first batch of political prisoners, 22 consultants of the NDFP peace panel, be released in time for the start of the formal peace talks this 22 August?  Or will the talks be postponed once more to give time for their release repeatedly hamstrung by legal requisites and bureaucratic delay?
Will the exchange of harsh words between President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his erstwhile professor, founding chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines and now NDFP Chief Political Consultant, Jose Maria Sison, escalate further and jeopardize the peace talks? Or will their political maturity and commitment to a higher good rule the day?
A week ago, while monsoon rains lashed the country, the political storm clouds began lifting. President Duterte invited NDFP political and legal consultants to the Palace along with the GRP panel. What ensued was described by the NDFP consultants as light, cordial, humor-laden and a breakthrough for the political prisoners’ release with direct, unequivocal instructions from the president to speed things up. He also repeated his previously stated stand against the filing trumped-up criminal cases against Leftist leaders and members as the previous administrations of Arroyo and Aquino III were wont to do.
The grant of bail for the NDFP consultants and two others (for humanitarian reasons), the release orders, the passports and visas and the allow departure orders soon followed one after the other.  Not fast enough for those pining for their loved one’s release and the human rights activists who were burning both ends of the candle to fulfill all the legal paperwork and requirements.  And a bit too close to call for the Oslo talks just days away.
But in the end, it was well worth it. The beaming smiles, teary eyes, clenched fists, hearty handshakes, tight hugs and never-ending group photos attest to the outpouring of relief and joy at the first round of releases of political prisoners.  The NDFP perceives this to be in the spirit of what President Duterte promised to NDFP emissaries even before he was inaugurated; that he would declare a general amnesty for thus unjustly incarcerated for their political beliefs, subject to the concurrence of Congress, in order to lay the ground for successful talks and the final resolution of the four decades-long armed conflict between government and the revolutionary movement.
The releases augur well for the peace talks, a qualitative leap in confidence-building that was soon reciprocated with the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by the CPP-NPA-NDFP to take effect a day before and a day after the first round of formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway. As we write, Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, has announced that President Duterte has restored the GRP’s unilateral ceasefire as well starting midnight of August 21 “to last as long as necessary to bring peace to the land”.
In truth, we have not seen such a public display of happiness, optimism and determination to work towards the goal of a just and lasting peace as now.
Good will, hard work, imagination, cooperation and creative language engineering will be required from both sides as they keep their focus on the immediate objective of success in the first round of formal talks as well as the long-term goal of inking bilateral agreements on the remaining substantive agenda: economic and social reforms; political and constitutional reforms; and end of hostilities and disposition of forces.
From experience, there will be unavoidable and avoidable complications, intended and unintended distractions, compounded by miscommunications and missteps.  Each side will be faced with the huge challenge of forging ahead while avoiding pitfalls, especially coming at loggerheads on major and even minor issues that could develop into an extended impasse.
Each side will be constantly under pressure by public opinion and their respective constituencies to try to be as accommodating as possible on the negotiating table while being firm on principle, as each side sees it.   They must appreciate the objective constraints and even the subjective limitations of each side while working towards reaching agreements that will stand the test of the people’s judgement as well as the judgement of history.  And always, always they must keep in mind and take to heart what is good for the majority of the Filipino people, even as each Party will have its own interpretation of what exactly that means.
Many times we have been asked how far we think the peace negotiations can go, what really is possible under the Duterte administration that has vowed to be “inclusive” and the harbinger of “change” but is in fact dominated still by the political and economic elite as reflected in Cabinet appointments to key positions and his majority backing in the Senate and House of Representatives.
How far can progressive, pro-people and nationalist reforms pushed by the NDFP advance through the peace talks even as the local oligarchy and foreign monopoly capitalist firms inevitably start to mount stiff opposition, the US and other imperialist powers plot interventionist moves, and the military, police and other state security forces threaten a coup d’etat against President Duterte?
In the past, even peace advocates and other progressives could only reply with qualified optimism. This time, there is reason for more optimism.
In a few days, the entire NDFP negotiating panel which has been based in Europe for at least three decades will be able to confer directly with a dozen or so consultants who mostly have been in the field all these time before their arrest. The firsthand and face-to-face sharing of experiences, views, situationers and proposals will be unprecedented and will certainly enrich the information-and-knowledge stock of the NDFP panel and sharpen and fine-tune its own proposals and positioning in the negotiations, especially with respect to the substantive agenda on reforms. This could considerably facilitate the discussions on the negotiating table itself and raise the probability of arriving at mutually acceptable propositions.
Indeed while it is still anyone’s guess, efforts to still the guns of war in exchange for a just and lasting peace based on addressing the underlying roots of armed conflict must be sustained, nurtured and even defended by all concerned, that means by each and every one of us.
For social reformers, political activists as well as peace and human rights advocates this translates to pressing on with the struggle for substantial and fundamental reforms in the socio-economic, political and cultural spheres so that the agreements on the substantive agenda are amplified, enriched and bolstered thereby increasing their chances of being upheld and implemented by both Parties. #
Published in Business World
22 August 2016

STREETWISE: Why peace talks hang in the balance

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Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
Why peace talks still hang in the balance
And so it has come to this.  After stoking such high expectations about the resumption of peace talks between the  Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and what the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)  considers the top “security threat” in the country today — the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP) — President Rodrigo Duterte now scoffs at the  strength and significance of these revolutionary forces.  He also calls their acknowledged leader, Jose Maria Sison, who he had earlier respectfully referred to as his political mentor, “arrogant” for rapping him about giving ultimatums to the revolutionary movement.
During non-stop visits to military camps all over the country, Mr. Duterte in effect tells his audience of military officials and soldiers, in his signature kanto boy style, that he thinks he is doing the CPP-NPA-NDFP a big favor by engaging them in peace negotiations.
Why, he even declared a unilateral ceasefire effective immediately at his SONA, no less.
But the CPP-NPA-NDFP did not reciprocate with its own unilateral ceasefire declaration after he gave a deadline of 5pm last July 30. (The CPP announced it would make a declaration at 8pm).
So Mr. Duterte lifts the GRP’s unilateral ceasefire at 7pm and he tells the military and the police that they can go back to what they have been trying to do for more than four decades; that is, defeat the NPA militarily and decimate the CPP and NDFP cadre corps through a “legal offensive” utilizing fabricated criminal cases. (Not surprisingly, he sounds much less belligerent and derisive of the CPP-NPA-NDFP, if at all, when addressing a non-military audience, such as the PCCRV.)
But wait a minute. Mr. Duterte’s peace adviser Jesus Dureza says the August 20 talks are still on track. So does Mr. Luis Jalandoni, NDFP chief peace negotiator. What is going on here?
As it turns out, a unilateral ceasefire declaration, whether by the GRP or the CPP-NPA-NDFP, was never a precondition to the resumption of the peace talks in Oslo, Norway.  As a matter of fact, the consensus reached by the two sides last June 15 (contained in their Oslo Joint Statement) was that the “mode of interim ceasefire” would be discussed when the formal talks resumed in July alongside “an amnesty declaration for the release of all detained political prisoners, subject to the concurrence of Congress”.
Mr. Duterte’s dramatic declaration of a unilateral ceasefire at his July 25 SONA was his big-bang gesture that unfortunately ended in a whimper.
When Duterte’s people failed to communicate to the NDFP the full text of the AFP SOMO (Suspension of Offensive Military Operations) and the PNP SOPO (Suspension of Offensive Police Operations) in a timely manner; military maneuvers and occupation of rural civilian communities continued unabated; an armed clash took place resulting in the death of a member of a notorious paramilitary group — all these contributed to a delay in the CPP-NPA-NDFP’s reciprocal declaration of a unilateral ceasefire.
In the end, Mr. Duterte’s precipitate ceasefire declaration was undermined by his own people as well as his precipitate decision to recall it — two hours after his arbitrary deadline and one hour before the anticipated CPP-NPA-NDFP announcement of its ceasefire.
In the meantime, there have been no releases of the more than 500 political prisoners nationwide and counting. As in zero. Zilch. This, after Mr. Duterte’s ever-so-generous offer to grant a general amnesty in meetings with the NDFP official representative, even before his inauguration. “I know most if not all of them (political prisoners) are being held on trumped-up charges” he reportedly said, priding himself to know, after having been a prosecutor for many years, the quality of justice meted out in Philippine courts.
Twenty two NDFP peace consultants remain behind bars, three of them convicted, on the basis of trumped-up criminal cases.  There are more than eighty political prisoners who are sick, elderly, husband-and-wife detainees, or for other humanitarian considerations, deserve to be released immediately.
Like all political prisoners, they are victims of political persecution and  an ongoing miscarriage of justice as part of the government’s insidious scheme to deal with political dissenters by illegally arresting them, placing them in indefinite detention until they can be convicted of spurious criminal charges and then made to rot in prison for the rest of their productive lives.
By the way, the easiest way to do this is to plant a piece of grenade in their belongings upon arrest for that makes their case non-bailable. (The grenade is recyclable for the next unsuspecting victim.) No use charging them with the more appropriate political crime of simple rebellion since that is more difficult to prove and is, in fact, bailable.
It goes without saying that they are vilified as “communist terrorists”, murderers, arsonists, robbers, kidnappers and what have you all the better to deny them any kind of public sympathy. (Notably, they do not pin the favorite and most reviled kind of crime of late, illegal drug trafficking, against these activists and revolutionaries because that would indeed be laughable.)
Not that political dissenters are no longer the object or targets of extrajudicial killing by the state’s security forces. It’s just that dealing with the so many “enemies of the state” via this most brutal of means as in the time of President Gloria Arroyo, raised a howl of protest from the local and international human rights community.  Too costly politically so the government came up with this “legal offensive” scheme.
The Arroyo regime put up the Inter-agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) tasked to investigate, prosecute, monitor and handle litigation processes of cases involving national security.  It ended up as the government agency responsible for fabricating criminal lawsuits against the alleged top leadership of the CPP-NPA-NDFP and even political activists that the government suspects are members or supporters of the revolutionary movement.  The IALAG has officially been abolished but its function has been institutionalized in the state’s police, prosecutorial as well as judicial system.
Taken in this light, the call for the release of all political prisoners is valid in its own right.
As a means to forging ahead with the peace negotiations and ultimately achieving a just and lasting peace, their release gains even more urgency and is deserving of the broadest public support. #
Published in Business World
8 August 2016

Sison: NDFP has been patient and working hard for peace

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NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said that President Rodrigo Duterte failed to display patience in preempting the Communist Party of the Philippines’ announcement of its own unilateral declaration of ceasefire last night.

In this interview, Sison responds to Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process chairperson Jesus Dureza’s statement issued earlier today.  Read more

NPA to Duterte: You have been deceived, ridiculed

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THE NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY (NPA) said that President Rodrigo Duterte was deceived by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) when it claimed the ambush that killed one paramilitary trooper and injured four others in Bagnakan, Sitio Muling, Barangay Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte last July 27 was unprovoked.

In response to Duterte’s demand to explain the ambush, NPA ComVal-North Davao-South Agusan Subregional Command’s spokesperson Aris Francisco said in a statement that the Civilian Auxilliary Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) under the 72nd Infantry Battallion of the Philippine Army and Alamara paramilitary troops were engaged in an active combat operation when they were ambushed by the NPA. Read more

People’s SONA rally reaches Batasan Road

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PROGRESSIVE organizations and activists from all over the country held a rally near the House of Representatives (HOR) as President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 25.

About 30,000 activists, including thousands from Mindanao, Visayas and Bicol, were allowed along Batasan Road that has never seen a rally as big in at least two decades. Read more

SONA 2016: Progressives hold biggest rally, applaud some of Duterte’s pronouncements

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TENS of thousands of activists from all over the Philippines gathered in front of the House of Representatives to hold the biggest State of the Nation Address rally in decades.

Allowed to march as close to the venue of President Rodrigo Duterte’s first SONA speech, the rally was also the most peaceful in years.

The activists applauded some of Duterte’s pronouncements, specifically on the lowering of income taxes and unilateral declaration of ceasefire with the New People’s Army.

Read more

LARAWAN: SONA ng Bayan 2016: 40 libo nagmartsa sa Batasan

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SONA ng Bayan 2016: 40 libo nagmartsa patungong Batasan

Tinatayang hindi bababa sa 40 libo ang nagmartsa mula sa iba’t ibang sektor at progresibong organisasyon sa pangunguna ng Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) mula sa Commonwealth Avenue patungong Batasan Road kaninang umaga. Ipinakita ng BAYAN ang kanilang pagsuporta sa mga maka-mamamayang programa ng bagong administrasyong Duterte sa kanyang unang SONA sa araw na ito. Naglakbayan ang mga delegasyon mula sa Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Bicol, Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon at Northern Luzon patungong Maynila bitbit ang “agenda ng mamamayan” para kay Pangulong Duterte.

Commonwealth Avenue to Batasan Road, Quezon City
July 25, 2016

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Youth, sectoral groups form human chain for peace

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YOUTH and sectoral groups formed a “human chain” at Mendiola, Manila last Friday to support the resumption of the formal peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The human chain is part of the metro-wide action led by Kapayapaan, a group of advocates who call for a just and lasting peace, in anticipation of the formal negotiations in Oslo, Norway presumably on August 20 to 27. Read more