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GRP announces non-participation in fifth round of formal talks

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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)

LARAWAN: Misa para sa kapayapaan

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Noordwijk, The Netherlands
May 28, 2017

Parties begin second day with a Holy Mass

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NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The mood considerably improved between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) this morning, helped by a Holy Mass celebrated by Tuguegarao Archbishop and first time peace talks observer Sergio Utleg.

Panel members of both parties attended what probably is the first celebration of a Holy Roman Catholic Mass during the negotiations since the peace talks started in 1986.

In his homily, Utleg extolled the parties to “work harder for peace.”

“Peace be with you. But for Christ’s peace to pervade over our land, we need men and women of peace,” Utleg said.

We trust that our negotiators on both sides will be anointed by God’s Spirit so that His sons and daughters in (our) land that has already been drenched by so much blood may at least walk the ways of peace,” Utleg added.

The Archbishop is an active supporter of the peace process, repeatedly hosting peace forums within his jurisdiction.

After the celebration, the parties immediately retreated to a room to resume their informal talk in an effort to proceed with the formal round.

Backchannel talks were also held during breakfast and in between the informal talk.

The parties continue to refuse to divulge details of their informal talks to the media but are hinting the formal opening may still proceed within the day. # (Raymund B. Villanueva/Photo by Jola Diones-Mamangun)

When ‘ceasefire’ means prolonging a war

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PALACE HOTEL, Noordwijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands—It’s somewhen between midnight and dawn and the hotel is quiet. A solitary employee was patrolling its cavernous lobby, his footfalls echoing loudly. A few hours earlier, thousands of voices filled the hall and thousands of footfalls pounded its marble floor, creating a day-long din.

But, in essence, there had only been worthless silence. There have been lots of noises but there has been little said that could accelerate the peace negotiations to its hoped-for just conclusion.

The scheduled opening of the fifth round of formal peace negotiations did not happen. Again.  For the second consecutive time, in this hotel, what was supposed to be a day spent for formal talks became a frantic day of threats, accusations and counter-accusations, and backchannel meetings and tactics.

It was all because of a word: ceasefire.

Last April, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) Negotiating Panel submitted to its National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) counterpart a demand for a bilateral ceasefire agreement before the fourth round of talks are yet to formally open.  It was among GRP President Rodrigo Duterte’s four “barest conditionalities.”  That round’s formal opening eventually pushed through after a day, but not before the word “ceasefire” put the negotiations in jeopardy.  It took the considerable skill of both panels (composed of many veteran negotiators) to look for ways to work around the obstacle.

The parties’ solution was to agree to forge a bilateral ceasefire agreement after ground rules and definition of terms have been agreed upon and while negotiations on socio-economic reforms as well as political and constitutional reforms are being accelerated.  It was a brilliant compromise, well thought-out to satisfy both the NDFP’s insistence on meaningful social reforms and the GRP’s desire for a stop to the New People’s Army’s (NPA) punishing attacks against the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The round ended successfully, with assurances that both sides would thenceforth give primacy on socio-economic reforms negotiations.

They did. Back in Manila, the parties, unilaterally and bilaterally, convened their working committees and pushed things forward, especially on agrarian reform and rural development.  They agreed on more items and clarified matters on contentious points.  It was thought the negotiating panels would only have to receive and approve the recommendations of the reciprocal working committees on socio-economic reforms and the fifth round would have been one of the most successful ever.

But came the demand for a bilateral ceasefire before the formal opening. Again.

Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza said they met with President Rodrigo Duterte Wednesday when the demand for the CPP to rescind its order to the NPA to further intensify its military operations against the AFP was issued.  In a press conference yesterday, however, the GRP said a bilateral ceasefire is actually part of the demand.

The meeting, however, was mainly a command conference on the administration of Duterte’s martial law declaration over the entire Mindanao region following a botched AFP operation against an armed group in Marawi City.  The two demands, therefore, were made under the context of a crisis not of NPA’s doing. Yet, GRP defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana dragged the NPA into the martial law fray that led its political organ, the CPP, no choice but to issue its own directive.  By the time the NDFP panel indirectly learned of Lorenzana’s withdrawal of his controversial statement, the two demands had already been submitted to the NDFP.

The NDFP expectedly took exception. Newly-designated NDFP panel spokesperson and former chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni told reporters that should the GRP panel walk out of the talks because the NDFP could no longer accommodate the demands as it did last April, “it was the GRP who made the decision to cancel the round.”

What was claimed to be a pitch for a goodwill measure has become a stumbling block to the acceleration of the negotiations for the substantive agenda of socio-economic reforms.  What was repeatedly-billed as a measure to reduce the number of battlefield deaths on both sides is preventing real negotiations from proceeding.  What is being touted as a beneficial agreement for the marginalized, especially peasant and indigenous peoples’ communities, is making it harder for the panels to find real solutions to landlessness, poverty and joblessness, lack of national sovereignty, lack of self determination of indigenous peoples and Bangsamoro, and environmental destruction.

Grotesquely, the word “ceasefire” is becoming another reason for prolonging the nearly 50-year civil war.

The Agreement on a Joint Ceasefire Agreement is among the agreed-upon issues to be tackled once the fifth round has been formally opened, not before.  The ceasefire committees have met back in Manila and are supposed to present the result of their discussions to the panels assembled.  It would be beneficial to the peace process if the ceasefire proposal would be tackled during the formal negotiations.

One hopes the second day of the fifth round would just be like the second day of the fourth round when the parties agreed to proceed to negotiate on the substantive agenda and not be sidetracked by a side issue.  One hopes the word “ceasefire” would not be a reason for a cancelled round, but an incentive after the root causes of the armed conflict have been addressed.

By then, it would no longer be temporary but permanent, not unilateral or bilateral but uniting. By then, it would genuinely be a cessation of hostilities spawned by the dawning of a just and lasting peace. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

Panels end tensed first day with agreement to resume informal talks tomorrow

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NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The negotiating panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have ended a tensed day of threats, accusations and counter-accusations by agreeing to continue their informal negotiations tomorrow, May 28, at nine o’clock in the morning (3 pm Philippine time) as part of their ongoing efforts to save the fifth round of formal peace talks.

NDFP panel spokesperson Luis Jalandoni told reporters Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza requested for the postponement of the resumption of their panel-to-panel meeting originally scheduled at eight o’clock this evening (4 am Philippine time).

The parties met at 6:30 in the evening (12:30 am Philippine time) for the NDFP to submit a written reply to the GRP’s statement it would not participate in the fifth round of talks unless the Communist Party of the Philippines rescinds its earlier order to the New People’s Army to further intensify its military operations against state forces.

The NDFP also said the GRP asked them to sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement for the fifth round to proceed.

Reacting to the NDFP’s written reply, GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III said the NDFP reply is “worth looking into.”

Both the NDFP and the GRP refused to divulge the contents of the reply, however, saying they have mutually agreed to keep the current informal negotiations between themselves.

Their early evening discussion was attended by the Third Party Facilitator, the Royal Norwegian Government.

The GRP and the NDFP are still trying to save what appeared earlier in the day to be an imminent cancellation of the round, sources from both parties said.

Bello and NDFP counterpart Fidel Agcaoili were seen holding backchannel talks in between panel-to-panel discussions in apparent efforts to save the formal round.

The parties originally scheduled to hold the round’s formal opening ceremony today.

Earlier, Agcaoili said it is the third consecutive round the GRP presented conditionalities before the peace negotiations formally opened.

The GRP has been consistently asking the NDFP for a bilateral ceasefire agreement since the third round in Rome last January, to which the NDFP repeatedly replied is only possible after socio-economic reforms as well as political and constitutional reforms agreements have already been signed and implemented in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration of September 1, 1992.

Both parties said the fifth round is still possible.# (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

 

 

LARAWAN: Mga pangunahing tagapagsalita at negosyador sa usapang pangkapayapaan

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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

 

Panels working to salvage 5th round

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NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel said it is drafting a reply to its Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) counterpart as part of efforts to find common ground and allow the fifth round of formal peace negotiations to proceed.

In an interview, NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said the NDFP Panel is ready to talk about socio-economic reforms and other substantive agenda set in their April 6 Joint Statement.

Agcaoili added their reply shall clarify to the GRP the NDFP panel could not order the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to retract its order to the New People’s Army (NPA) to further intensify their offensive operations against the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

He explained the CPP’s directive was a response to GRP defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statements that the NPA was among the targets of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Martial Law declaration over the entire Mindanao region.

Agcaoili cited bombings of communities in North Cotabato and Bukidnon that killed one civilian and injured several others in the past two days.

“There are NPA units operating in those areas,” he said.

He added that they could only recommend to the CPP in much the same way that GRP’s chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III and Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza could not order the AFP and the GRP security cluster to withdraw their all-out war policy against the NPA and lift President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law declaration over the entire Mindanao region.

Agcaoili said they have gone as far as they could go in recommending to the CPP to reconsider its order to the NPA.

GRP’s ceasefire demand

Agcaoili revealed the NDFP panel was also told by the GRP panel it wants a bilateral ceasefire agreement signed during the fifth round.

“We have made our position clear that until we reach an agreement on social and economic reforms as well as political and constitutional reforms, there could never be a ceasefire,” Agcaoili said.

“We hope they would receive our reply positively so that, hopefully, we can proceed with the opening ceremony of the fifth round tomorrow,” Agcaoili said.

Abella’s statement wrong

GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III, for his part, clarified that Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella’s statement is wrong.

“The government of the Philippines will not proceed with the scheduled 5th rounds of peace negotiations in The Netherlands,” Abella said in a statement in Manila.

Abella’s announcement was lifted from Dureza’s prepared statement read to Filipino and Dutch journalists covering the talks.

Informed of Abella’s announcement, GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello looked surprised but said such statements should only come from the government panel present in The Netherlands.

“The fifth round is still a possibility,” Bello said.

The panels are set to meet again at five o’clock in the afternoon (local time, 11 pm Philippine time) in a last ditch effort to salvage the scheduled fifth round. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

GRP to NDFP: ‘We will not proceed to participate, unless…’

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NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) announced  they “would not proceed to participate” in the fifth round of formal peace negotiations until some conditions are met by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

“(We) will not proceed to participate in the scheduled fifth round of peace negotiations until such time as there are clear indications that an enabling environment conducive to achieving just and sustainable peace in the land through peace negotiations across this table shall prevail,” the GRP, through Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, said.

Dureza cited the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) order to the New People’s Army (NPA) to further intensify its military operations against GRP forces as a “defiant, blatant and serious challenge to the Duterte administration” as a reason for their decision.

“We want the CPP to retract their directive to the NPA,” Dureza said.

The GRP also said they are “suggesting” to the NDFP that a bilateral ceasefire agreement is signed during the round.

This is the second time the GRP submitted to its counterpart a set of demands before a formal opening to a round of formal peace negotiations.

The fourth round of talks in this city last April was postponed by a day while the parties looked for ways to respond to President Rodrigo Duterte’s four “barest conditionalities”.

“Defense of the people”

The CPP earlier ordered the NPA to “defend the people” against a possible increase of human rights violations, especially after Duterte’s May 22 martial law declaration over the whole of Mindanao.

The CPP also reacted to National Defense secretary Delfin’s Lorenzana’s statement that the NPA was among the targets of Duterte’s martial law.

GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III, however, said they have already “clarified that the NPA is not among the targets of Duterte’s martial law declaration.”

Lorenzana on Saturday, May 27, said the Armed Forces of the Philippines “will not specifically target” the NPA in the government’s martial law implementation in Mindanao.

Lorenzana issued the media statement a few hours before the scheduled opening of the fifth round of formal talks and in response to NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison’s call for the GRP and the NDFP forces to unite against terrorism.

5th round still possible

The NDFP through its spokesperson Luis Jalandoni said that should the fifth round of negotiations are cancelled, “the decision was made by the GRP.”

In an interview, Jalandoni said the GRP’s demand to the CPP is a new one and it was not included in their April 6 Joint Statement that the fifth round of talks shall focus on the socio-economic reforms agenda.

He added that a signed bilateral ceasefire agreement also must only come after ground rules for its implementation have been forged by the parties.

“We are supposed to be talking while fighting like the parties have successfully done in the past, especially during the Ramos regime,” Jalandoni said.

NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said they are still trying to find ways for the 5th round to proceed but “will not be blackmailed into agreeing into a premature bilateral ceasefire agreement.”

GRP panel member Hernani Braganza said there is still hope for the round as long as both panels are in this city and are still willing to talk. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

LARAWAN: Black Friday protest: No to Martial Law in Mindanao

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‘Time to unite’: NDFP panel to recommend reconsideration of order to intensify attacks vs GRP forces

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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)