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Migrants ready for NDFP-GRP talks in Rome; negotiations to focus on socio-econ reforms

MIGRANT FILIPINOS in Italy are ready for the third round of formal negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) this week.

As the venue of the peace talks shifts to the ancient city of Rome on January 19 to 25, migrant organizations are taking the opportunity to express support to the negotiations by organizing a rally and forum midway through the round on January 22.

Various Migrante International chapters and other Filipino organizations throughout Italy would be attending a rally supporting the peace talks, including Migrante-Milan, Migrante-Bologna, Kapitbisig Migrante-Milan, Migrante –Mantova, Migrante- Caserta, Migrante-Firenze, Gabriela-Rome, Italo-Filipino Friendship Association, and the International Committee on Human Rights in the Philippines.

Italians and other nationalities are also expected to attend the rally to be held at Rome’s Plaza Esquilino from nine to 11 in the morning, the organizers said.

“The event would be to support the peace talks here in Rome and to show to both the GRP and the NDFP panels our interest in the progress of their negotiations,” Umangat Migrante coordinator and Gabriela Rome founder Weng Flores said.

Flores said many fellow migrants expressed delight when they found out that the third round of talks would be held in Rome

Both the GRP and the NDFP asked the Royal Norwegian Government to facilitate the third round of talks in Italy as Norway was deemed to be too cold for many negotiators during winter.

Peace forum

After the morning rally, migrants will hold a peace forum organized by the Sentro Pilipino Socio-Cultural Committee and Umangat-Migrante in the afternoon.

Both the NDFP and the GRP are invited to send speakers to the forum.

“It would be an opportunity for both parties to explain why the peace talks are important to migrants like us.  We hope they could explain to us what the NDFP’s agenda are and the GRP’s response to them,” Flores said.

“More importantly, we wish to be informed of our role in the process and the solutions they have regarding labor migration,” she added.

Another peace forum shall be held in Milan in northern Italy on January 28, three days after the scheduled conclusion of the formal negotiations on the 25th.

The forums follow a similar event held in Rome last November attended by NDFP Negotiating Panel member Coni Ledesma and senior adviser Luis Jalandoni.

Flores said more of their compatriots and friends in Italy have become interested in the peace process.

Focus on socio-economic reforms

Meanwhile, both the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels said they are ready for the start of the formal talks on Thursday which will focus on socio economic reforms.

“We are all set and ready to engage the NDF in the discussion of all substantive agenda, including supplemental agreements needed to proceed and arrive at a peaceful negotiated political settlement to end the armed conflict in the country,” GRP Negotiating Panel chairperson Silvestre Bello III said.

The GRP is set to fly to Rome Monday evening.

The NDFP for its part said they agreed with the GRP proposal that the third round of talks would focus on the socio-economic substantive agenda.

“We agreed to GRP’s suggestion to the Royal Norwegian Government that we focus on socio-economic reforms (SER) on this round because this is the meat of the peace talks,” NDFP Negotiating Panel chairperson Fidel Agcaoili said.

Agcaoili said both parties agreed to spend three days negotiating on SER and one day on political and constitutional reforms, the Joint Monitoring Committee and other issues. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

 

NDFP-GRP human rights monitoring committee meets today

THE National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) pushed their human rights mandate forward as the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) on the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) held its third meeting in as many months today.

GRP Monitoring Committee chairperson and negotiating panel member Hernani Braganza earlier announced their meeting at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Taguig City on his Facebook wall.

The JMC was convened for the first time in 12 years last September 20 and again during the second round of formal NDFP-GRP talks in Oslo, Norway last October when they agreed to finally undertake joint activities.

In Oslo, the GRP and the NDFP agreed to develop a JMC monitoring system and jointly promote human rights through forums, trainings and the introduction of human rights and international humanitarian law in school curriculums.

Both parties also discussed and clarified the documentation and investigation of complaints and agreed on the need to finalize the coverage of joint education and capacity building activities by the joint committee’s Joint Secretariat (JS).

Both the GRP and the NDFP have yet to respond to Kodao’s request for statements on their third meeting today.

Breakthrough

Karapatan secretary general and JMC independent observer Cristina Palabay said her group welcomes current efforts to continue JMC’s revitalization.

“Karapatan hopes that the JMC can pursue the complaints on violations of the CARHRIHL by State security forces, especially those in relation to the implementation of the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan,” Palabay said.

Formed as a CARHRIHL mechanism in 2004 after at least five years of delay, the JMC has received 6,397 complaints of human rights violations, 4,471 against the GRP and 1,926 against the NDFP as of May 23, 2016.

The NDFP however said that 96 per cent of the complaints against them are “nuisance complaints” filed wholesale last November 8, 2006 by the Judge Advocate General’s Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Most complaints against the GRP and its forces on the other hand were filed by human rights organizations or directly submitted by the victims or their families.

Previously, the GRP Monitoring Committee under the Gloria Arroyo and Benigno Aquino administrations refused to meet with its NDFP counterpart to discuss thousands of complaints of human rights violations against both parties and undertake joint activities as per their agreement in 2004.

The NDFP also revealed that former Aquino peace adviser Teresita Quintos Deles asked the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG), third party facilitator to the talks, to stop funding JMC’s JS that holds office at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral compound in Cubao, Quezon City.

The RNG reportedly refused Deles’ request as JS’ dissolution is only possible after agreement by both the GRP and the NDFP.

The JMC is again expected to convene during the third round of formal NDFP-GRP negotiations in Rome, Italy on January 19-24. (Raymund B. Villanueva/Featured image from Nani Agsalud Braganza’s Facebook wall.)

 

 

MEME: Hamon sa kabataan ng isang Pulang Bagani

Si Ka Roberto ay tubong Maynila at sumapi sa Bagong Hukbong Bayan noong 2010. Siya ay napabilang sa Pulang Bagani Company 2 (PBC2) kasama ng mga Manobo (Lumad). Ang PBC2 ay kabilang sa Pulang Bagani Battalion ng New People’s Army sa Southern Mindanao Region.

NDFP peace negotiators pay tribute to NPA’s Pulang Bagani Battalion

NDFP peace negotiators were honored by the New People’s Army’s Pulang Bagani Battalion with a special military parade and review at the conclusion of their national peace forum in Davao City’s Paquibato District last December 26.

NDFP negotiating panel member Coni Ledesma, senior adviser Luis Jalandoni, consultants Concha Araneta Bocala and Porferio Tuna expressed delight at the presence of women commanders and fighters among the ranks of the NPA’s biggest standing unit. Read more

Pulang Bagani Battalion leads celebration of CPP’s 48th anniversary

The New People’s Army’s Pulang Bagani Battalion staged a military parade and review to start the Communist Party of the Philippines’ 48th founding anniversary celebration in Davao City last December 26.

Often dismissed as a spent force, especially after the death of one of its legendary commanders Leoncio “Ka Parago” Pitao, the battalion welcomed tens of thousands of supporters and well-wishers in a show of force at President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown.

The CPP said it is at its strongest in its 48-year history and is ready to continue its revolution until final victory.

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NPA ready to punish GRP troops encamped in communities when ceasefires end

PAQUIBATO DISTRICT, Davao City—The New People’s Army’s (NPA) Pulang Bagani Battalion led the celebration of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) 48th founding anniversary in this upland community yesterday in a show of force in President Rodrigo Duterte’s own hometown. Read more

GRP harassment of civilians preventing bilateral ceasefire agreement–NDFP Negros

COMMUNISTS on Negros Island said they are not ready for a bilateral ceasefire agreement between the Rodrigo Duterte government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) until President Rodrigo Duterte orders the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to stop targeting activists for assassination.

Speaking to journalists at a grassroots peace forum last December 22, National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Negros spokesperson Frank Fernandez said the AFP is “using the war on drugs as a justification” for targeting 16 activists all over the country, including an indigenous people’s leader.

The former Roman Catholic priest said that instead of respecting Duterte’s unilateral ceasefire declaration in effect since August, the AFP is using the anti-narcotics campaign as a cover for counterinsurgency operations.

“This is why we cannot agree right away to a bilateral ceasefire with government because we have to secure the people in the areas where we operate against abuses like this,” Fernandez said.

Duterte had been exerting pressure on the NDFP to sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement with his government, repeatedly threatening them that there will be no further releases of political prisoners unless he receives a signed declaration.

Fernandez for his part slammed the government’s anti-drug campaign and said Duterte’s approach “can never solve the problem.”

Anti-poor anti-drug campaign

Speaking in the same forum, New People’s Army (NPA) commander Juanito Magbanua said they initially appreciated Duterte’s efforts to solve the drug problems “but quickly saw something was wrong because most of those who have died are the poor.”

“Drugs reach the streets from above, from the drug lords and large distributors. Why not go after them first instead of killing only the poor, who are as much victims of the drug trade?” Magbanua asked.

The guerrilla commander said even the street pushers belong to the suffering poor.

“We are not saying they (pushers) are right but most of them were pushed to the trade by poverty,” he stressed.

Magbanua said that long before Duterte started going after drug addicts and pushers in Davao City, the NPA already had an anti-drug program in the guerrilla zones.

But while they share Duterte’s goal of eradicating illegal narcotics in the country, Magbanua said they “cannot agree to the extrajudicial executions whose targets are largely the masses.”

Both communist leaders said they are still waiting for Duterte to prove himself to the people, noting that in his first six months as president, “wala sang benepisyo sa masa (there have been no benefits for the masses).”

More than a hundred NPA guerrilla fronts are set to celebrate the Communist Party of the Philippines’ 48th founding anniversary tomorrow, December 26. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDFP, Duterte ceasefires to hold over holidays

THE ongoing unilateral ceasefire declarations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) will stand over the Christmas and New Year holidays, promising to be the longest ever truce between the Manila government and the revolutionary Left.

The ceasefire declarations of August by both parties remain valid for December and January if not terminated, according to NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison.

“The NDFP has no intention of terminating the unilateral ceasefire declaration in December and probably even in January,” Sison said.

Previously, the Corazon Aquino GRP signed a 60-day ceasefire agreement with the NDFP as a result of their August-December 1986 formal talks at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

The agreement was terminated after seven farmers were killed in what became known as the Mendiola Massacre of January 1987.

“But the NDFP keeps on reminding the GRP to order its military force to desist from invading the territory of the people’s democratic government and to stop committing atrocities under Oplan Bayanihan or some other ‘oplan’,” Sison added.

President Rodrigo Duterte for his part asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines to observe a ceasefire over the Christmas and new year holidays.

“As agreed upon with local religious leaders, I am honestly, sincerely asking you for a ceasefire beginning December 23 to 27, then new year, 31st hanggang January 2, 3,” Duterte told the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in his speech at at its 81st anniversary rites at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday.

In his speech, Duterte also confirmed Sison’s announcement on Facebook that they talked on the phone last December 19.

“I had a friendly and productive phone conversation with President Duterte about advancing the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations at around 7 p.m. last night Utrecht time,” Sison said.

Kodao interviewed Sison about these developments:

Kodao:  What did you and Duterte talk about?

Jose Maria Sison (JMS): We talked in general terms. I focused on the need to amnesty and release all the political prisoners and accelerate the negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) as well as on Political and Constitutional Reforms (PCR).

I told him that the NDFP could go along with the GRP in founding the Federal Republic of the Philippines and making a new constitution with provisions for assuring enough resources for planned economic development and the preemption of political dynasties and warlordism.

President Duterte focused on opposing the oligarchs and running after corrupt officials. I agreed with him that the GRP and NDFP can agree on opposing US imperialism and the oligarchs in order to uphold national independence and economic development of the Philippines.

Kodao:  On top of the existing unilateral GRP ceasefire with the NDFP, President Duterte asked the AFP to observe a ceasefire “beginning December 23-27, then new year, 31st hanggang January 2-3.” What can you say about this?

JMS: The existing unilateral declarations of the GRP and the NDFP remain valid for December and January if not terminated. The NDFP has no intention of terminating the unilateral ceasefire declaration in December and probably even in January. But it keeps on reminding the GRP to order its military force to desist from invading the territory of the people’s democratic government and to stop committing atrocities under Oplan Bayanihan or some other oplan.

Kodao:  What was your discussion about the third round of the formal GRP-NDFP talks, if any?

JMS: We covered the third round of talks in a general way. I explained that we could make the comprehensive agreements in one year or less than two years. And we can cooperate on the implementation for three to five years. I told President Duterte that during his term, the foundation for the industrial development of the Philippines should be laid and we can proceed with further five-year economic plans to accomplish Ambisyon 2040.

Kodao:  What was your discussion regarding the political prisoners, if any?

JMS: I indicated briefly that President Duterte and I could meet in Rome if all the political prisoners were released and the bilateral ceasefire agreement is already signed by the Negotiating Panels before or during the third round of talks.

Kodao:  What is the truth regarding his claim that the CPP-NPA-NDFP “did not declare a cessation of hostilities somewhere”? (President Duterte may have been referring to the incident in Southern Mindanao region where NPA fighters killed GRP troops last August.)

JMS: It is possible that he was referring to that period in August when the CPP and NPA did not declare their own unilateral ceasefire and there was an NPA ambush on armed units of the AFP in Southern Mindanao. He must have mentioned it as an anecdote to show concern for his own troops.

Kodao:  What can you say about his claim that the NPA fighters may visit their families during the holidays and visit military camps to break bread with GRP soldiers?

JMS: During the validity and effectivity of the unilateral ceasefire agreements, the NPA Red commands can arrange family visits of Red fighters and organize or join peace rallies like those on December 26. But visiting AFP military camps and breaking bread with AFP soldiers can entail more difficult decision-making and working out complex arrangements to ensure safety. But in previous instances, when the NPA released prisoners of war, the NPA hosted Mayor Duterte and his armed escorts in NPA territory.

Kodao:  What is your reply to his statement that Communist rebels should “come down” from the mountains and rejoin society?”

JMS: It is appropriate for President Duterte to express his wish because the objective of the peace negotiations is to address the roots of the armed conflict, undertake social, economic, political and constitutional reforms and establish a just and lasting peace.

(Report and interview by Raymund B. Villanueva / Featured image by Jon Bustamante)

Lawyers present six reasons why political prisoners must be freed

People’s lawyers held a press conference at Mendiola this morning and cited six reasons for the immediate release of all political prisoners.

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) and the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) joined human rights victims and their kin in solidarity fasting and stressed the legal and humanitarian grounds for the release.

President Rodrigo Duterte had recently issued statements he would only release the political prisoners after a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

The lawyers said Duterte is contradicting himself, saying it was him who promised to grant them general amnesty immediately after his election as President earlier this year. (Featured photo by Salinlahi)

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Sison: CPP ready to terminate ceasefire if political detainees are not released by January

Kodao’s Raymund Villanueva interviews National Democratic Front of the Philippines chief political consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison on President Rodrigo Duterte’s promise to release all political prisoners, ceasefire, peace talks, new AFP chief of staff Eduardo Año, and extra-judicial killings connected to the so-called drug war.  

Kodao: In a recent interview, you said the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) may work for a bilateral ceasefire as long as the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) President Rodrigo Duterte makes good on his promise to release all 434 political prisoners within 48 hours after delivery to him of a signed copy by GRP panel chair Silvestre Bello III and GRP panel member Angela Librado-Trinidad.  What is your explanation for advising the revolutionary movement may accept Duterte’s challenge?

Prof. Jose Ma. Sison (JMS): I made the advice after reading a news announcement that President Duterte would release all the political prisoners within 48 hours after the GRP and NDFP panels sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement. I asked NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili to contact immediately his counterpart GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III whether the report is true and whether the GRP panel is willing to meet the NDFP panel within the second half of December regarding the bilateral ceasefire agreement.

Kodao: What should the NDFP and the revolutionary movement do with the signed bilateral ceasefire if the GRP president fails to deliver on his promise?

JMS: The signing of the bilateral ceasefire agreement by the GRP and NDFP panels can come ahead of the amnesty and release of all political prisoners by President Duterte but said agreement becomes valid and effective only upon the actual release of said political prisoners and upon the approval of the agreement by the GRP and NDFP principals.  No chance for the GRP to get the bilateral ceasefire agreement and then renege on the commitment to amnesty and release all political prisoners.

Kodao: How can Duterte affect such when his peace adviser (Sec. Jesus Dureza) and the GRP panel have been saying the notoriously slow judicial processes must be followed?

JMS: Indeed, the OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) is known to block the amnesty and release of the political prisoners and is supposed to have advised Duterte accordingly. The GRP side has the power to prolong the imprisonment of the political prisoners and make them suffer needlessly an injustice in violation of the CARHRIHL and the Hernandez political offense doctrine.

But the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines is ready to terminate the August 28, 2016 unilateral declaration of interim ceasefire in case no amnesty and release of all political prisoners would occur in December or January.  We shall be back to a situation of negotiating while fighting, unless the GRP terminates the peace negotiations completely.

Kodao: How long would such a bilateral ceasefire take effect?

JMS: If the bilateral ceasefire agreement shall be forged, it shall be valid and effective indefinitely between the armed forces and units of the GRP and NDFP.

Kodao: What are the conditions that would compel the NDFP to end such a bilateral ceasefire?

JMS: The NDFP can end such a bilateral ceasefire agreement if the GRP grossly and systematically violates it, loses interest in the negotiations of the substantive agenda and is interested merely in using the bilateral ceasefire as an instrument of capitulation and pacification at the expense of the people and the revolutionary forces.

Kodao: Some regional commands of the NPA and the CPP are thinking of terminating their existing unilateral ceasefire declaration because of several documented cases of violations of the GRP’s unilateral ceasefire declaration by its own armed forces.  What would happen to such sentiments and the people’s complaints of ceasefire violations if the NDFP would sign a bilateral ceasefire with the GRP at this point?

JMS: The NDFP should not sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement that does not address the violations made by the AFP, PNP, paramilitary forces and death squads during the period of reciprocal unilateral ceasefires.  Provisions must be made for pre-empting and preventing the recurrence of such violations. The military and police should be restricted to barracks and should not usurp civilian functions. They should not be able to use any pretext to commit atrocities against the people within the territory of the people’s democratic government.

Kodao: President Duterte met with NDFP panel chair Fidel Agcaoili, NDFP panel member Benito Tiamzon and consultants just last weekend, which reportedly went well.  Then a day before Duterte appointed Lt. Gen. Eduardo Año as new AFP chief of staff, he issued his ultimatum.  What do you think would happen to a bilateral ceasefire when Duterte’s new chief of staff is an alleged human rights violator and a “rebel hunter?”

JMS:  In his candid moments, President Duterte himself admits that the GRP is reactionary and rotten, serving US imperialism and controlled by oligarchs, with civilian, military and police officals involved in corruption and criminality, including illegal drugs. To make a good bilateral ceasefire agreement and continue the peace negotiations with the NDFP, Duterte must assume the responsibility of fixing the criminals and self-contradictions in the GRP. He must know how to control his new AFP chief of staff or replace him if he can.  Otherwise, a just and lasting peace will become impossible. And the armed revolution will continue.

Kodao: There has been more than five thousand killed under Duterte’s so-called war on drugs in his five months in office.  How should the NDFP raise this issue under CARHRIHL during the formal peace talks? Is it still beneficial for the revolutionary movement to engage in formal talks with the Duterte government under which all these killings are happening?

JMS: The extrajudicial killing of 5,800 suspects of being drug pushers is a valid issue that can be discussed under the CARHRIHL, especially because there are already many complaints that the military, police and paramilitaries of the GRP are using Oplan Tokhang for the purpose of smearing and murdering revolutionaries.

The CPP, NPA and NDFP have already pointed out that the anti-drug campaign might be like Plan Columbia under which tens of thousands of paramilitaries were organised not really to fight the drug traders but the revolutionary forces.

Kodao: It is being announced that the next round (third) of formal talks would be on January 18-24 in Rome, Italy.  What would be on the agenda and how is the NDFP preparing for this?

JMS:  The GRP and NDFP Panels will take up the condition of the political prisoners and the unfulfilled promises to release them.  There is yet no basis to say that the matter of bilateral ceasefire agreement will be taken up before or during the third round of peace talks. I expect that the negotiations of the CASER (Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms) by the RWCs (Reciprocal Working Committees) concerned will make some significant advance to show that the peace process is really moving ahead. CASER is the meat of the entire peace negotiations. It offers the prospects of national industrialization, genuine land reform, improved incomes and means of livelihood and expansion of social services.

Kodao: Why should the Filipino people support the continuation of the peace process?

JMS: The Filipino people support the continuation of the peace negotiations because they wish substantial social, economic and political reforms to be achieved across the negotiating table. However, if they are frustrated in this regard, they will also be able to see more clearly the justness and necessity of the people’s democratic revolution through people’s war. After all, the crisis of global capitalism and the domestic ruling system continues to worsen and cry out for revolution.

(Interview and Sison photo by Raymund B. Villanueva/Duterte photo by Davao Today)