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CASER may be approved by July or August—Joma

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Jose Maria Sison said a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) may be approved between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in about two months.

In response to yet another assurance from GRP President Rodrigo Duterte for his safety should he come home to the Philippines, Sison said both parties are a few weeks away from completing the most substantial of issues in the peace negotiations.

“For sure I shall return to the Philippines after the signing of the interim peace agreement, which is already being prepared for June, and the subsequent mutual approval of the comprehensive agreement on social and economic reforms by the GRP and NDFP either in July or August,” Sison said.

The NDFP and the GRP are set to meet in June in Oslo, Norway for the resumption of the fifth round of formal talks that has been cancelled by Duterte three times in the past 12 months.

The parties are reportedly set to sign an interim peace accord via a coordinated unilateral ceasefire agreement as well as a general amnesty proclamation for NDFP-listed political prisoners and the signing of the agrarian reform and rural development and national industrialization and economic development components of the CASER in late June.

Earlier, Duterte again assured Sison he will not be assassinated should he decide to come home for a face-to-face meeting between them.

“Walang [Benigno] Aquino style na patayan na barilin ko sa likod. (There will be no Aquino-style assassination where I’ll shoot someone at the back). It’s not my [style],” Duterte said Wednesday in a speech in Manila.

Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983 upon landing at the Manila International Airport after years of exile in the United States of America.

“I welcome the assurance of safety by President Duterte. It is much better that there is such an assurance,” Sison said in reply.

“The most important thing is that we can dialogue and agree on how best we can serve the interest of the Filipino people, especially the toiling masses of workers and peasants through the peace negotiations and cooperation under the principles of national sovereignty, democracy and social justice,” Sison added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

GRP rejects Joma-Duterte meet in Hanoi

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The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panel rejected a National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) suggestion that its chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison and President Rodrigo Duterte meet in Hanoi, Vietnam.

This was revealed by Sison in a statement Saturday, May 26, saying he and his former student could have agreed to attend the signing of substantial agreements, including an interim peace declaration, by the two parties.

“The NDFP has offered Hanoi as the alternative venue to facilitate the attendance of Duterte. But the GRP side did not give a positive answer and the RNG [Royal Norwegian Government, third party facilitator to the peace negotiations] special envoy cannot make any arrangement with Hanoi,” Sison said.

“Hanoi as a venue near the Philippines was proposed by NDFP in consideration of the heavy work schedule of Duterte,” he added.

Sison added that the original plan mutually agreed upon by the GRP and NDFP representatives in back channel consultations in recent weeks was to have Duterte attend the Oslo ceremony for the signing of the Interim Peace Agreement.

But the GRP side backed out and offered Duterte’s executive secretary Salvador Medialdea as his proxy instead, Sison added.

Duterte has repeatedly challenged Sison to come home to the Philippines and continue the peace negotiations in the country.

In a speech in Davao City Thursday, Duterte again said he is guaranteeing Sison’s safety and will even escort him back to the airport should the talks fail.

Sison, however, said his acceptance of Duterte’s challenge will violate earlier GRP and NDFP agreements such as The Hague Joint Declaration and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees to hold the talks in a foreign and neutral venue.

“Second, I would be placing myself and the entire peace negotiations in the pocket of Duterte and at his mercy. Third, any peace spoiler or saboteur would be able to destroy the entire peace negotiations by simply abducting or harming any NDFP panelist or consultant,” Sison added.

NDFP negotiators and staff were arrested and killed when their 1986-1987 peace talks with the Corazon Aquino government collapsed, prompting them to insist on a foreign and neutral venue when formal peace negotiations resumed with GRP President Fidel Ramos in 1992.

Sison however is not ruling out returning to the country.

“I have consistently declared that I will return home when substantial progress is already achieved in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations and my comrades and lawyers are satisfied with the legal and security guarantees,” Sison said.

“By substantial progress, I mean the entire CASER [Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms] has been mutually approved by the GRP and NDFP principals,” he said.

For his soonest possible interface with Duterte, Sison said the NDFP has considered the possibility of the meeting “at the signing of the Interim Peace Agreement, packaging the ceasefire agreement, amnesty proclamation and the ARRD and NIED sections of CASER either in Oslo or Hanoi.”

GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III’s comment on Sison’s statement is still being sought by Kodao. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Joma dismisses Duterte’s threat to kill him

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National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison made light of yet another threat against him by his former student Rodrigo Duterte.

Responding to Duterte’s latest invective-laced tirade against him, Sison said the President has repeated so many times to kill him he is considering it a “term of endearment.“

“[S]ometimes I surmise that the expression ‘kill‘ has actually become a term of endearment, as in some American comedies,“ Sison said.

In a speech in Davao City Thursday night, Duterte said that should Sison accept his offer to come home and yet the peace negotiations between the NDFP and his government fail, he would allow his former professor to leave but would order him never to return.

“I will allow him to go out. I will not arrest him because word of honor ‘yan. But sabihin ko talaga sa kanya, putangina mo, huwag ka na bumalik dito. Papatayin talaga kita,” Duterte said. (But I will really tell him, you son of a bitch, do not return anymore. I will really kill you.)

Sison said he will not reply to Duterte in any hostile manner, but added he would draw the line if his former student actually wrecks the work already done by the NDFP and Duterte’s negotiating panels to prepare the resumption of formal peace talks.

“It seems to me that in using strong words he is eager to resume the peace negotiations rather than to block them,“ Sison said.

Sison added it is best that he and Duterte allow and encourage the GRP and the NDFP negotiating panels to continue preparing for the resumption of formal talks and make substantial progress as soon as possible.

Sison has been quoted by earlier reports to have predicted that formal negotiations may resume on the last week of June after the declaration of a mutual stand-down agreement between the New People’s Army and government forces.

The NDFP and Government of the Republic of the Philippines negotiating panels are expected to firm up agreements on social and economic reforms, specifically on agrarian reform and rural development as well as national industrialization and economic development, should the thrice-cancelled fifth round of talks finally push through.

“I have reason to be optimistic on the basis of the hard and productive work that the panels have already done in the form of back channel consultations, consensus building and bilateral drafting, unless the Duterte regime is once more backtracking,” Sison said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDFP admonishes GRP on arrest of injured NPA leader, preemptive announcements

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The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel admonished the Rodrigo Duterte government on the arrest of New People’s Army (NPA) leader Elizalde Cañete while still recuperating from an 11-hour brain surgery in Bukidnon Province.

The NDFP said it views with great concern the arrest, saying the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) is under obligations to uphold their Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) under which hors de combat like Cañete should be afforded safeguards as regards to health, among other rights.

READ: Arrest try of injured Red commander humanitarian law violation, NPA says

The group issued a statement following reports that Cañete’s kin as well as human rights paralegals are being barred from visiting him at Don Carlos Memorial Hospital in Kitaotao Town where he is confined.

Human rights group Karapatan-Southern Mindanao Region said Cañete’s relatives were also harassed by military intelligence agents under the 88th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.

Karapatan SMR also said that hospital nurses and medical attendants were told by high-ranking officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Cañete has been issued a warrant of arrest and is prevented from receiving relatives unless allowed by military and police authorities.

The group added Cañete’s family and paralegals are uncertain of Cañete’s health status as he is guarded heavily by combined elements of the PNP and AFP.

“We admonish the GRP to honor its commitments under CARHRIHL. Likewise, we warn the GRP that any harm done to Cañete can have adverse consequences to the efforts of both sides to resume the peace negotiations,” NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement.

Agcaoili added AFP and PNP’s disregard of Cañete’s rights can jeopardize the back-channel talks for making preparations for the resumption of the stalled peace talks that have already reached an advanced stage.

Backchannel

Earlier, the Communist Party of the Philippines also admonished the GRP for violating its agreement with the NDFP that unilateral statements will not be issued prior to actual agreements in the ongoing series of backchannel talks.

While saying it is looking forward to positive resolutions, the CPP said officials of the Duterte government should be more circumspect in issuing public statements or comments so as not to preempt the outcome of the informal talks and efforts to revive formal negotiations.

Earlier, The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said in a statement issued on Tuesday said that “[e]fforts to resume peace negotiations with the CPP/NPA/NDF are underway, with informal back-channel talks now taking place in Europe.”

OPAPP also announced it received positive results from the backchannel talks in Europe, the statement said.

The CPP however urged the media and the public to await official statements on the outcome of informal talks between representatives of the NDFP and the GRP.

NDFP chief political consultant Jose Ma. Sison echoed CPP’s statement, saying any announcement or statement on the ongoing backchannel talks must be co-signed and jointly issued by the GRP and the NDFP.

“The point is to avoid misundertandings and preemption of the outcome by any side at the expense of the other,” Sison told Kodao.

Sison added there is a strong trend towards resumption of formal talks within June, based on the fact that the back channelers are determined to put together a package of agreements on ceasefire, amnesty and release of all political prisoners.

He added that the signing of the Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) as well as National Industrialization and Economic Development (NIED) sections of the prospective social and economic reform agreement CASER may also constitute an Interim Peace Agreement.

“Bilateral teams are poised to finalize the common drafts of the ARRD and NIED for submission to the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms,” Sison said.

Sison added that one more round of back channel talks will wrap up everything for the resumption of formal talks. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Arrest try of injured Red commander humanitarian law violation, NPA says

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The New People’s Army (NPA) in Southern Mindanao Region condemned the attempted arrest by combined military and police troopers of its commander recuperating from a major operation in a Bukidnon hospital.

The NPA said Zaldy Cañete, injured in a fierce gun battle in Barangay Kipilas, Kitaotao, Bukidnon Thursday, is obviously an hors de combat and must be given protection, respect and humanitarian medical treatment and recovery in accordance with civilized rules of warfare.

“The GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) should not subject Cañete to further punitive action by virtue of his condition as an hors de combat,” Rigoberto Sanchez, the NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command spokesperson, in a statement said.

An hors de combat is a person who is “outside of the fight” after injury or surrender.

On May 10, 2018, the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Battalion attacked Cañete’s 1st Pulang Bagani Company, resulting in a two-hour fire fight that involved aerial and ground bombing by the GRP troops.

Cañete sustained head and body injuries, including a bullet wound on his lower left ear that exited on his right frontal skull.

The NPA said eight government troopers were in turn killed.

Cañete was turned over to his relatives in the area who took him to the nearby Don Carlos District Hospital where he underwent an 11-hour brain surgery.

The injured Red fighter is suffering memory loss and loss of speech as a result of his injuries and is confined at the hospital’s intensive care unit, the NPA said.

A few hours after his operation, however, AFP, PNP and intelligence operatives arrived and attempted to serve multiple warrants of arrest against Cañete, the NPA said.

“The GRP’s hasty attempted arrest and detention of Cañete is treacherous and violates the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), the Geneva Conventions and other generally accepted principles and standards of international humanitarian law which clearly protect injured persons of the Parties in armed conflict,” the NPA said.

“In the same manner that the NPA has treated leniently any captured personnel of the military, police and paramilitary forces as prisoners of war in faithful allegiance to the international customary law pertaining to humanitarian principles, norms and rules in armed conflicts, the GRP has no recourse but to afford Cañete the same rights and non-discriminatory protection,” it added.

Human rights group Exodus for Justice and Peace (EJP) echoed the NPA’s call, saying the attempted arrest of an hors de combat is an international humanitarian law violation.

“Any action taken by the AFP on Cañete would constitute a serious breach and will dampen the spirit of reopening the [peace] talks,” EJP said in a statement.

“[The] EJP observes that the AFP continues to ignore the efforts of the GPH panel and the people’s clamor for peace as it continues its operations and propaganda. Clearly this does not help the peace talks,” their statement added.

The EJP periodically acts as a third party facilitator to the release of GRP troops who were taken as prisoners of war by the NPA.

The EJP appeals to the government to release Cañete on humanitarian grounds and as part of an enabling environment for the resumption of the talks.

NDFP and GRP peace negotiators are reportedly engaged in a series of backchannel talks in accordance with GRP President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to try to revive the peace negotiations he cancelled in November last year. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

Itanong Mo Kay Prof: Hinggil sa Maaring Pagbuhay sa Usapang Pangkapayapaan

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Sa episode na ito ng Itanong Mo Kay Prof, pinag-usapan nina Prof. Jose Maria Sison at Prof. Sarah Raymundo ang posibilidad ng pagbuhay sa naantalang usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng National Democratic Front of the Philippines at Government of the Republic of the Philippines.

Ayon kay Sison, mahirap umasa ng siyento porsyento ang mamamayang Pilipino sa muling pagbuhay sa usapang pangkapayaan dahil na rin sa mga kondisyong ipinataw ni GRP President Duterte para ito matuloy.

Pakinggan ang kabuuan ng panayam.

(Ang IMKP ay maaring i-broadcast ng buo o bahagi nito ng mga programang pang-radyo, istasyon ng radyo at anumang organisasyon at indibidwal.)

Thanks, but peace talks first, Sison tells Duterte

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National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for the latter’s offer for him to return to the country, but said such may be premature without substantial advancements to the peace talks.

“I thank President Duterte for his expressed wish for my soonest homecoming and for his assurances of hospitality and guarantees for my safety,” Sison said, adding he has long wished they could meet again and cooperate closely in enabling the peace process to advance from one item to another in the substantive agenda.

“I declare that I will certainly return home when a significant advance in the peace negotiations has been achieved within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration and when my comrades and lawyers are satisfied with legal and security precautions,” Sison said.

Sison said that that if he return to the Philippines prematurely, he would expose not only himself but also the entire peace process to extremely high risks of violent sabotage and termination by spoilers who are out to terminate the peace process once and for all.

Over the weekend, Duterte again invited his former professor to return to the Philippines and possibly resume the peace negotiations in the country.

“I created a small window, 60 days. My proposal to Sison is that I no longer go to…We are talking about the Philippines here. So you come home,” Duterte said before motorcycle enthusiasts in Albay.

Duterte said Sison will be safe while in the Philippines.

“I will molest no one. I will order the military and the police to be nice to you,” he said.

Sison, however, said the important common task in the next few weeks is for the NDFP and Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panels is to prepare for the resumption of the peace negotiations by doing the following:

  1. Making a memorandum of agreement to respect existing agreements prior to Proclamation 360 (which terminated the peace process) and to remove the obstacles and hindrances to the participation of a significant number of NDFP negotiators, consultants and experts in the peace negotiations.
  2. Drafting the mutually satisfactory agreements on ceasefire and amnesty of the political prisoners as well as the parts of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and National Industrialization and Economic Development.
  3. Signing and approving the agreements well within the 60-day frame that President Duterte has set by way of resuming the peace negotiations.

Duterte terminated negotiations November last year and moved to have NDFP allied organizations, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army, proscribed as terrorist organizations.

Last Thursday, Duterte said he ordered the possible resumption of formal negotiations because he does not want GRP soldiers dying and in response to the NDFP’s desire to resume the peace talks.

Sison said he is confident that the GRP and the NDFP negotiating panels, consultants and drafting teams will be able to produce in the next few weeks the documents necessary for resuming the peace negotiations and making the peace process strong and stable.

Meanwhile, the NDFP is set to celebrate its 45th founding anniversary on Tuesday, April 24. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDFP to file complaint on disappearance of consultant

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The negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said it will file a complaint against the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) on the reported involuntary disappearance of one of its peace consultants.

NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said the disappearance of Lora T. Manipis and her husband Jeruel B. Domingo since February 24 will be a subject of a complaint to be filed with their joint human rights and international humanitarian law monitoring committee with the GRP.

“We expect the GRP to act on [the complaint] together with all the other hindrances [to the resumption of the peace talks],” Agcaoili told Kodao.

The NDFP in Far Southern Mindanao said Minipis and Domingo both vanished without a trace after being seen by witnesses in Kidapawan City. The group said the couple had not made any contact with their family and comrades.

“At the time of their disappearance, they were arranging for activities related to the peace process. They were also actively holding dialogs with indigenous people and peasants who have been affected by the large-scale mining operations of X-trata Mining in Tampakan, South Cotabato,” NDFP said.

Manipis joins other NDFP consultants believed abducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, such as Leo Velasco, Rogelio Calubad, Prudencio Calubid, NDFP staff members Philip Limjoco, Leopoldo Ancheta, and Federico Intise.

“We fear that Manipis and Domingo may have already been executed by intelligence and military operatives, or are suffering from intense torture and other violations of international humanitarian law,” the NDFP said.

Meanwhile, Davao Today reported that Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Jerry Lamosao denied responsibility for the couple’s disappearance.

“If they believe that the Army is responsible, they should have filed a complaint earlier given that if they coordinate with authorities, they can ask for assistance,” Lamosao said.

Agcaoili said they are still checking Manipis’ Document of Identification name with their official list of consultants under the NDFP and GRP’s Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

The JASIG list was deposited by both the NDFP and the GRP with an unnamed third party in The Netherlands last June.

Consultants included in the JASIG list as well as other persons directly participating in the peace negotiations are guaranteed free movement and freedom from arrest, surveillance, interrogation and similar actions in connection with their involvement or participation in the peace negotiations for the duration of the peace talks.

Immunities cover acts, statements, materials, information and data made during or resulting from the peace negotiations.

The 2017 list, encrypted in Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash disks and backed up in a Security Drive (SD), contains photographs and the real identities of NDFP peace consultants who are still underground, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Group lauds possible resumption of GRP-NDFP talks

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JAKARTA, Indonesia—Mindanao peace advocates lauded the possible resumption of peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) following an exchange of positive statements from their respective leaders.

Independent peace talks observer and Sowing the Seeds of Peace in Mindanao main convenor Bishop Felixberto Calang said their group joins the “many jubilant voices” in welcoming the promised resumption of the negotiations.

Calang said they are hoping for the eventual signing of agreements on social and economic reforms, the release of political prisoners, and the upholding the agreement on human rights and international humanitarian law.

“The (possible) resumption of the talks shows that President (Rodrigo) Duterte himself is the decisive protagonist who can provide the ‘enabling environment’ for the sustainability of the (peace process), Calang said in a statement.

Presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza announced Wednesday that Duterte has ordered his negotiators to work for the possible resumption of the talks, a move welcomed by the NDFP.

The NDFP through its chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison for its part said it remains open and ready to resume the talks.

Calang, however, cautioned against peace spoilers out to permanently scuttle the talks.

This is a second life for the peace talks (with the Duterte government). The Filipino people must not allow hawkish vultures to lead it astray again to a tragic end,” Calang said, noting “dark clouds…hover(ing) above the process such as the terrorist-witchunt list, Martial Law in Mindanao, and the widespread militarization of Lumad communities.

“All of these need to be addressed or considered if we wish for the talks to proceed with a good start,” Calang said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Duterte orders negotiators to work on resuming talks with Reds

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The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have stepped closer to resuming formal peace negotiations.

In a tweet Wednesday night, Presidential peace process adviser Jesus Dureza announced that GRP President Rodrigo Duterte has directed his peace negotiators to work on resuming formal talks with the NDFP.

“President Duterte directed during the Cabinet meeting today (Wednesday) to work on the resumption of peace talks with the CPP/NPA/NDF [Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army] with clear instructions on the importance of forging a ceasefire agreement to stop mutual attacks and fighting while talks are underway,” Dureza said.

Dureza added that Duterte has said to give the peace process “…another last chance”.

He said the Duterte has also committed “to provide support” to the revolutionary movement as long as it stops imposing and collecting taxes.

NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison for his part said that formal peace negotiations are the right venues to deal with GRP’s issues and complaints such as ceasefire proposals and the NPA’s revolutionary taxation activities.

“The resumption of peace talks between the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels is needed precisely to deal with substantive issues and complaints,” Sison said.

Sison said that in the same round of formal talks, the parties can present conflicting positions and subsequently seek to solve problems “on mutually acceptable grounds.”

He said that both negotiating panels already have a draft of the agreement on coordinated unilateral ceasefires, “which is under the watch of a joint national ceasefire committee.”

“This draft agreement is in effect the start of a bilateral ceasefire agreement. It is a significant step towards the Comprehensive Agreement on the End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces,” he added.

Sison also said that the GRP and NDFP has already achieved substantial consensus on the general principles of agrarian reform and rural development and national industrialization and economic development, which both parties acknowledge are the most important parts of the prospective social and economic reforms agreements.

He added that there is also a draft amnesty proclamation to release all the political prisoners listed by the NDFP in compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

“When the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels meet, they can be confident of achieving substantial success. Without a formal meeting of the panels, there can only be an acrimonious public exchange of complaints and demands, which appear or sound like the preconditions prohibited by The Hague Joint Declaration,” Sison said.

The Hague Joint Declaration requires that no side shall impose on the other side preconditions that negate the character and purpose of peace negotiations.

“The conflicting parties become negotiating parties precisely to thresh out serious differences and complaints and seek the solutions to achieve a just and lasting peace,” Sison explained.

“As a matter of course, the two panels shall reaffirm all the existing agreements by way of ending the previous termination of the peace negotiations. It logically follows that the two panels shall cooperate in doing away with the obstacles and hindrances to the agreements and to the entire peace process,” he added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)