Award winning poet and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Ericson Acosta was murdered by the military Wednesday morning in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, a rebel spokesperson announced.
NDF-Negros spokesperson Bayani Obrero said in a statement that Acosta and a companion were captured alive at around two o’clock in the morning of November 30 but were announced as casualties in a “fake encounter” a few hours later.
Obrero belied the announcement made by the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army (PA) that the bodies of two New People’s Army (NPA) members were “found” at the site of a second firefight between government troopers and the revolutionary group in Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi in the said city.
In an earlier announcement, the government unit said that they, along with the 47th IB-PA, fought against 10 NPA fighters twice in a span of 15 minutes that resulted in the discovery of two dead rebels, presumably Acosta and his unnamed companion.
The government troopers said the insurgents were earlier involved in a series of gunfights in Carabalan, Himamaylan City in October.
The NDF in Negros however said Acosta and companion were summarily executed as part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ “despicable policy of taking no prisoners in their counter-insurgency campaign.”
“Twisting truths cannot cover the fact that butchers 94th Infantry Battalion and 47th Infantry Battalion captured NDF Consultant Ericson Acosta and his companion, a peasant organizer, alive around 2:00 this morning,“ Obrero said.
Obrero said Acosta was in southern Negros to consult on the situation of farm workers as one of the NDFP peace consultants working on social and economic reforms.
Acosta attended the formal peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines in 2017 in Italy and The Netherlands.
Acosta, first arrested in February 2011 in Samar Island, regained freedom two years later.
A highly-regarded writer, singer and actor, he later won a National Book Award for his first poetry collection “Mula Tarima Hanggang at iba pang mga Tula at Awit” published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2015.
He was a former culture editor of The Philippine Collegian.
He is survived by a son with fellow poet, actor and campus journalist Lorena Kerima Tariman who was similarly killed in what the military described as an “encounter” in Silay City, Negros Occidental in October 2021. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
A senator’s proposal to require government personnel to disclose relatives allegedly connected with criminal or so-called terrorist groups will only result in crackdowns on public officials, employees and their kin, a human right group said.
Reacting to Senator Francis Tolentino’s privilege speech on Tuesday, rights group Karapatan said that the legislator’s proposal will open the floodgates for possible violations on the right to due process, freedom of thought or opinion, privacy and threats to life and security and liberty of government workers and their families.
“What Sen. Tolentino is suggesting is a crackdown on officials and employees in the public sector and their relatives, based on the much-questioned, vague and arbitrary definition of terrorism under our laws,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.
In his speech, Tolentino proposed amendments to the filing of Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) by public officials and employees to include relatives who may be involved in criminal and underground activities.
“I think it is right that when one enters the government to perhaps declare that you have a relative who is a member of a terrorist organization or criminal syndicate up to the fourth degree of consanguinity,” Tolentino said.
The senator’s proposal came after higher education commissioner Prospero de Vera III’s admission that an elder sister is a member of an underground revolutionary organization.
Poet Adora Faye de Vera was arrested in Quezon City last August 24. Her supporters however have only described her as a martial law survivor who suffered torture and rape in the hands of government soldiers.
Karapatan said Tolentino’s proposal is way off mark while the Senate was deliberating on government efficiency in the midst of an economic crisis.
The group said “the senator’s proposal of a witch-hunt and pointless red-tagging in the public sector workforce is a huge disservice to the public.”
“Isn’t it more important to check government officials and agencies that engage in influence peddling, graft and corruption for self-serving interests rather than make proposals on irrelevant issues?” Palabay asked.
Group lauds Legarda
Meanwhile, Karapatan lauded Senate Pro Tempore Loren Legarda’s reply to Tolentino, pointing out that having political beliefs different from the status quo does not make one a subversive or a terrorist.
“Apart from her assertion of the fact that the anti-subversion law has been repealed, what can be gleaned from Sen. Legarda’s comments is the irony in a so-called democratic state, where the prevalent practice of government officials and State security forces remains to be that of intolerance for progressive beliefs, persecution and dangerous red-tagging,” Palabay said.
Karapatan said Legarda is correct in calling for a review of the Anti-Terrorism Law and the resumption of peace talks between the Manila government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
“[T]he common goal of leaders of our country, whether we are elected in the Senate, or even working with a grassroots organization deemed subversive or Left by the government, but not really proven, can work together towards more equity, peace and authentic real reforms in the countryside,” Legarda said during Tuesday’s hearing.
Legarda added said she would like the Anti-Terror Law to be reviewed, pointing out that she voted against it at the House of Representatives. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
That’s me slumped at the edge of the EDSA Shrine platform, wearing a white t-shirt and looking at the programme print out that has just been totally disordered by the arrival of wearing a white undershirt and addressing the crowd. I was co-emceeing and we just introduced him, his first appearance at the historic event. He walked from the airport to the EDSA Shrine because traffic was at a standstill and, when he arrived, immediately re-enacted his iconic “People Power Jump.” That’s FVR of course, the guy who has had a huge impact in our country’s recent history and who has died three days ago at 94 years old.
FVR addressing the crowd at EDSA People Power II. (Photo by Ramon Ramirez [+]/Arkibong Bayan)
My paternal grandfather Leon was reportedly a childhood friend and constant playmate of FVR’s dad, the diplomat and politician Narciso. There was also a claim by Pangasinan relatives that our respective families are kin. How, no one among the living on our side could now substantiate. So, far removed at best, if at all. A second degree aunt was a long-time caretaker of the Ramos family’s ancestral house in Asingan, now a museum. I once told this story to his nephew, veteran peace negotiator and former mayor-congressman-cabinet secretary Nani Braganza, and he and I have since taken to calling each other “manong”.
In my younger and hungrier times, I was a struggling business reporter when given an assignment to write a piece on former First Lady Ming Ramos’ Clean & Green Foundation-Piso Para sa Pasig. Someone must’ve have liked what I came out with because I was pirated on the day it was published. Then began nine years of me ghostwriting for the then FL. The most memorable pieces I churned out were her speeches. Inevitably, I had been tasked to do one for FVR himself when we launched the Pasig River International Marathon with him as special guest. That’s just a one off however, FVR having a dedicated team of highly-regarded wordsmiths as speechwriters when he was President, including my UP professor Butch Dalisay.
After his photo ops run with the runners, FVR was relaxing under a tent with his trademark unlit cigar (never saw him smoke them) when the Foundation executive director grabbed my arm to drag and introduce me : “Mr. President, meet the guy who wrote your speech, Raymund,” she said. Before I could greet him good morning, the old man had by then grabbed my hand for a shake and squeezed so hard I began to tear up. “I liked the speech,” he said. He said more kind words but I could not recall them now, remembering only that I was struggling not to yelp while trying hard to squeeze hard back to save some dignity.
He asked me to have a sit with him and, prolly noticing my skin, asked, “Ilokano ka met, balong?” “Ybanag, Mr. President. But my father is Ilokano from San Manuel.” I then told him about my father’s family’s claim of once being close to his family. He then fished out a cigar from his breast pocket and offered it to me, saying “For that speech, kaanakan,” he said.
The author [right, in white t-shirt] during the violent dispersal of protesters during FVR’s 1994 SONA. (Photo by now unknown photographer)
Of course I did not tell him I was an activist and became one when he was president. I did not like that he privatized many government assets and I disagreed with his liberalization of the economy. One time, when he was no longer president, we met him at his Peace and Development Foundation office in Makati to ask him to remind the water concessionaires to make good with their commitment to treat wastewater per their privatization contracts. We told him the Pasig River will never be fully rehabilitated if untreated wastewater is still dumped on the country’s most famous waterway. He rebuffed us, but in a nice enough way.
I rejoined journalism years later and started reporting on the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). I learned that the most number and most significant peace agreements were forged with the former general as president. Among these were The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (which was affirmed by the Joseph Estrada administration a few months after its crafting). These are the documents that—surprise! surprise!—the NDFP insists should be respected and used as framework in the talks, unlike the militarists and the social democrats who always try to have them dismissed as “documents of perpetual division.”
Peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP were most successful with Ramos as GRP President, both parties agree. Veteran negotiators like to narrate that once the GRP panel declared an end to the talks and went home because of a very contentious issue, FVR ordered them go back and resume the negotiations with the words: “Who told you to stop negotiating?”
We know how the talks went with the Erap, GMA, PNoy and Duterte administrations. Based on pronouncements of the new administration, it is looking like there will not a resumption in the near future either.
If only for how FVR pushed forward the peace process, let me say, “Agyaman, Uncle.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
The former president’s wake shall be at the Heritage Park in Taguig City starting tomorrow, August 4 until August 8. He will be interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on August 9.
The family and supporters of political detainee Rey Claro Casambre pressed their demand to have “preposterous charges” against the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant dropped.
As another hearing was held last Monday at Branch 113 of the Bacoor Regional Trial Court , the Free Rey Casambre Campaign said it demands that the Rodrigo Duterte government withdraw the “fabricated and ridiculous charges” of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against the peace advocate.
The demand came after the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) attempted to submit digital photos of the Colt pistol and fragmentation grenade as evidence last February 22 but was rejected by the Court.
The Free Rey Casambre Campaign pointed out that City Prosecutor who had earlier conducted the inquest had described the CIDG’s story preposterous, finding the “evidence” stashed in the dashboard with a laptop, claiming that these were seen “in plain view” from outside the car.
Casambre and wife Cora were arrested in December 2018 by police and military operatives.
The Court ordered Cora released.
The Free Rey Casambre Campaign said he would have been released with her but is kept in jail after another non-bailable charge was filed against him.
Casambre is also defending himself from the charge of attempted murder in connection with a New People’s Army ambush in Lupon, Davao Oriental in September 13, 2018.
Casambre earlier said the military’s allegation was false as he was at the House of Representatives the previous day urging the government to resume peace talks with the NDFP.
He said it is impossible for an ailing and elderly person like himself to travel to a place far as Lupon to help plan and execute a military action.
He added that he has never been to Lupon.
“This government has taken away Rey’s freedom to keep him from teaching many about the sore lack of social justice in the country and building unities towards genuine peace that will benefit the Filipino majority socio-economically,” the Free Rey Casambre Campaign said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/rcc.jpg720960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-04-27 09:16:532022-04-27 09:16:55Kin and friends demand dropping of ‘preposterous’ charges against NDFP consultant
Church and family say Aldeem Yañez is an exemplary church worker and Christian activist, not a terrorist
A church group as well as the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) denounced the arrest of church and development worker Aldeem Yañez at three o’clock in the morning of April 10, Palm Sunday, saying the charges against him are “blatant fabrication.”
The Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) said it denounces the early morning raid that is part of an “established pattern by state forces to conduct search or arrest operations in the dead of night.”
“Blatant fabrication of evidence and pro forma testimonies by arresting officers are an affront to truth and common decency,” the PCPR added.
Supreme Bishop Rhee Timbang himself spoke in behalf of the IFI in demanding Yañez’s release, saying the arrest was illegal and the charge of illegal possession of firearms against him are trumped up.
“We demand for the release of Aldeem Yañez and for the dropping of all trumped-up charges against him. We oppose illegal arrest and detention, and call for the stop of red-tagging! We shout to stop church persecution! We call for the resumption of peace talks!” Bishop Timbang said in a statement.
An activist and a repeated victim of red-tagging, Yañez is accused by the police and military to be a member of the New People’s Army.
Sunday’s arrest last Sunday is Yañez’s second. He was among 13 church workers arrested in General Santos City in July 2018.
Bishop Timbang however denied police and military allegations their church worker is a member of the NPA, adding Yañez is an IFI member in good standing.
He said Yañez is “active and committed in his participation to the life and work of the Church as being a consistent church youth leader in the parish, diocesan, regional [Mindanao], and national level.”
The prelate said Yañez was at one time the National Youth President of the IFI.
“As expression of his ministry, he served as volunteer staff of Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office for Development, a development program of the IFI, and of Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform [PEPP], a network of peace advocates in the country, seeking for the resumption of peace talks between the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) to resolve basic social problems in our land,” Bishop Timbang added.
“We in the IFI leadership decry this grave abuse of police and military power and the cooptation of the civil courts. We root this in the tyrannical rule of the present dispensation which has no regard and respect of the law, human rights, social justice and human dignity,” he said.
Bishop Timbang said Yañez is a musician and songwriter of many church songs used popularly within and outside the IFI.
Family of church workers
Yañez is a brother to an IFI Bishop and a Priest.
In an appeal, Fr. June Mark Yañez said his brother could not have kept guns inside their Cagayan de Oro home where Aldeem was taking care of their elderly parents.
“Who in their right minds would be keeping firearms and explosives in such a situation? Besides, Aldeem has no record of being a gun smuggler or drug dealer that would force him to keep such weapons where his beloved parents are,” Fr. Yañez asked.
The Priest said their brother is an exemplary servant of the Church and the Filipino people.
“He may not have become a priest like me or a bishop like our other brother, but we could not compare to his dedication to serve the Church. The guitar is his favorite instrument in spreading the good news. It is also his weapon of resistance as an activist, not guns and bullets that were planted as evidence against him by the shameless and desperate state agents who arrested him,” Fr. Yañez said.
Bishop Redeemer Yañez for his part said their brother Aldeem is an activist “if the word is to be defined as a person who sees the misery of his people, who hears the cry of the poor, who is concerned about their sufferings, and journey with them in the path of emancipation.”
Bishop Yañez said that their brother’s concern for the poor is rooted on his deep faith that was nurtured by their family, his nationalist church, and by his long involvement in the ecumenical and developmental works.
Aside from being a former national youth president of the IFI, Aldeem was also a former vice chairperson of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.
“He is a Christian activist. He is not a terrorist,” Bishop Yañez said.
Their mother Kathleen said she was hard-broken to see her youngest son in handcuffs and sleeping on the cold concrete floor of Camp Evangelsta in Patag, Cagayan de Oro City.
But she added that her spirit is lifted with the outpouring of support of the IFI and the many organizations and individuals who know the real Aldeem.
“I am happy to know there are so many who love my most kind son. This child of mine is spending his whole life serving the church and the poor. The only time he is away is the time he is with the poorest who are driven away from their homes and are victims of injustices,” she said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/aldeem-1.jpg8331448Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-04-12 17:04:172022-04-13 10:25:22IFI Supreme Bishop: Church worker’s arrest ‘grave abuse’ of police-military power
A “retired” National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant was “abducted” with four others in Parañaque City, human rights group Karapatan’s Southern Tagalog office reported.
In an alert, Karapatan-Southern Tagalog said retired NDFP peace consultant Ernesto Lorenzo, along with Maria Fe Serrano, their driver Andrei Medina, their aide Plinky Longhas and another unidentified person, were “abducted” by the police while queuing up for COVID-19 vaccines at the Nayong Pilipino mega-vaccination site.
Ernesto Lorenzo attending a rally by Filipino migrant workers in Rome, Italy during a break in the third formal round of peace negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP in January 2017. (Photo by Jola Diones-Mamangun/Kodao)
Lorenzo, the group said, is a Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) protected peace negotiator with identification number 978299 under the assumed name of Lean Martinez.
The JASIG, signed by the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in February 24, 1995, supposedly guarantees that negotiators, personnel and consultants of both the NDFP and the Manila government are immune against reprisals, including surveillance and arrests.
Lorenzo was consultant for Southern Tagalog and attended formal peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Rodrigo Duterte GRP up to January 2017.
He was a member of the NDFP Negotiating Panel’s Reciprocal Working Group on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces.
Lorenzo was earlier arrested in July 2015 on charges of destructive arson but was released along with several other jailed NDFP consultants to participate in formal negotiations in Europe.
President Duterte terminated negotiations with the NDFP in 2017 and has since repeatedly vowed to arrest all NDFP consultants who were released for the talks.
Serrano is the widow of former NDFP peace consultant for Mindoro Eduardo Serrano who died in prison in January 2016.
Karapatan-Southern Tagalog said the five’s whereabouts are unknown as of the issuance of its alert.
Davao consultant ‘tortured and murdered’
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) complained that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) tortured and subsequently murdered NDFP peace consultant for Southern Mindanao Ezequiel Daguman.
CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said Daguman was the 20th known revolutionary and peace consultant murdered by the GRP under Duterte.
Valbuena, in an April 2 statement, said Daguman was killed while in the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after he was abducted last March 7 in New Corella, Davao del Norte.
The AFP announced on March 28 that Daguman was killed in a supposed encounter on March 27 in Maragusan, Davao de Oro.
The CPP said that Daguman was assigned as the peace consultant representing the provinces of Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro whose JASIG identification was signed by the Manila government and the NDFP in 1995.
Valbuena added that Daguman’s death in the hands of government soldiers is proof that he “remained true to the revolutionary cause.”
“The AFP has repeatedly used fake encounters to justify and cover-up the most atrocious crimes against non-combatants and civilians,” Valbuena said, pointing to how NPA spokesperson Jorge Madlos and national commander Menandro Villanueva were also killed by military forces after being arrested.
Both Madlos and Villanueva were reportedly seeking medical care at the time the AFP claimed they died in firefights with government soldiers.
Valbuena added that NDFP peace consultant Edwin Alcid, together with two others, remains at the hands of the AFP and his whereabouts are still unknown since his arrest last March 7 in Barangay San Jose, Catubig, Northern Samar.
“We will hold the officers of the AFP directly responsible for any harm that may befall Alcid and his companions,” Valbuena said.
Valbuena also revealed that they have received information that NDFP peace consultant Esteban Manuel is being kept in solitary confinement in a military camp in Samar after his arrest last February. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ndf.webp5761024Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-04-11 21:03:582022-04-11 21:30:17Retired NDFP consultant ‘abducted’ in Parañaque
Braganza: ‘Mayor Isko is sure to be for the resumption of the talks. He was part of it, front, back and center’
Manila Mayor Isko More is likely to resume formal negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) if elected in May, the presidential candidate’s representative told peace advocates in an online forum last Wednesday.
Moreno shall pursue a people-centric approach to the formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP, his deputy political officer Hernani Braganza said.
“Mayor Isko is sure to be for the resumption of the talks. He was part of it, front, back and center,” Braganza said.
Moreno attended at least three formal rounds of the GRP-NDFP negotiations, twice in Oslo, Norway in 2016 and once in Rome, Italy in January 2017.
Braganza, himself a veteran government peace negotiator, was part of the GRP Negotiating Panels under the Gloria Arroyo and Rodrigo Duterte governments. He also participated in backchannel negotiations under other GRP administrations.
Braganza highlighted that the core of Moreno’s peace agenda is to provide Filipinos with more and participative democratic spaces as well as poverty alleviation.
He said that Moreno recognizes that poverty is the root cause of the armed conflict. “Mahirap pangaralan ang gutom na tao,” he added. (It is hard to reason with hungry stomachs.)
Braganza said he is optimistic that a Moreno GRP would focus on signing agreements on education, housing and employment with the NDFP.
He said that if elected, Moreno is likely to “fast-track” the negotiations and sign agreements within six months to allow his administration to focus implementing agreed-upon socio-economic reforms.
“Remember, each administration only has less than 2,200 days,” Braganza told the online forum Peace and the Presidentiables organized by the Citizens Alliance for Just Peace.
Ready to talk
Braganza affirmed that as long as the NDFP wants to negotiate with the Manila government, Moreno would always be ready to speak for them.
He added he believes Moreno would uphold the milestone documents previously signed by the GRP and the NDFP, including The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
He himself disagrees with a reformulation of the framework of the negotiations that the NDFP would not agree to, Braganza said: “Terms of surrender na iyon kapag ipipilit mong baguhin ang framework ng usapan na hindi sumasang-ayon ang kabilang partido.” (Insisting on changing the framework of the negotiations on the other party is already imposing their terms of surrender.)
Braganza said he assumes Moreno would study proposed agreements initialled by the GRP and the NDFP in June 2018 that included a proposed Stand-Down Agreement, Guidelines and Procedures towards an Interim Peace Agreement and the Resumption of Talks, an Interim Peace Agreement, and an NDFP proposed draft on the Amnesty of jailed NDFP consultants and political prisoners.
“Kung ano ang prosesong maabutan ni mayor, pag-aaralan niya. Pwedeng gawin,” Braganza said. (The mayor [Moreno] would study things where the talks left off. That is possible.)
Braganza said the next president should be innovative in order to end the five decade-long civil war.
“You know, the best innovation is extinguishing what fuels insurgency. Prof. Joma Sison himself told me that the government does not even have to negotiate with the NDF,P as long as it does its job in developing the country, respecting human rights and serving the people,” Braganza said.
According to Braganza, Moreno would be amenable to a reassessment of the terrorist designation of the CPP, NPA and the NDFP but added that he believes that the mayor would push through the with the resumption of the talks even if the terrorist tags are upheld.
He added that that Moreno will likely retain the GRP’s anti-insurgency group National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict but clarified that its policies would be reviewed and its budget realigned to more social services, such as livelihood programs. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/kois.jpg380526Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-03-31 12:37:462022-03-31 12:37:47Isko to resume peace talks if elected to Malacañang
Vice President Leni Robredo is committed to resume formal peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) if she wins in the May polls, according to her spokesperson Atty. Barry Gutierrez.
Representing Robredo in the third episode of the Peace and Presidentiables webinar series organized by the Citizen’s Alliance for Just Peace (CAJP), Gutierrez assured that a Robredo administration would call for the resumption of the NDFP with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
A Robredo presidency would avoid militaristic and top-down strategies in favor of enabling marginalized sectors to have a role in governance and decision-making processes, including peace negotiations, Gutierrez added.
Robredo would re-engage communities and basic sectors to create a more conducive environment for peaceful negotiations, he said.
Gutierrez outlined five principles in the pursuit of this goal: the rejection of a purely militaristic approach; strong participation of communities and local stakeholders in the peace process; the primacy of protecting civilians from violence; a peace framework that is in line with national socioeconomic goals and social justice; and, the strategic role of international community, including longstanding partners such as the Royal Norwegian Government.
Reaffirmation of previous agreements
Robredo’s spokesperson also promised that she would uphold the milestone documents previously signed by the GRP and the NDFP.
These agreements include The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
On the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), which was jointly drafted and was ready for approval in 2017, Gutierrez said that economic and social reforms should be fundamental to the peace process.
Robredo on the NTF-ELCAC
Gutierrez also clarified Robredo’s stance on the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), saying the Vice President believes that the original intention behind the agency was sound but the implementation of its mandate was marred by abuses.
If the NTF-ELCAC were to be abolished, it would have to be replaced by a body that would pursue the “whole-of-nation approach” while upholding democratic principles, he said.
Gutierrez also explained that Robredo’s support for the “whole-of-nation approach” was not an endorsement of the NTF-ELCAC’s abuses, but an espousal of the idea that the insurgency has to be solved by including all aspects of national governance to address the root causes of the insurgency.
Robredo vowed to put an end to acts of harassment by the NTF-ELCAC, such as in the form of red-tagging, Gutierrez assured, the Vice President being a victim of red-tagging by officials of the NTF-ELCAC herself.
Robredo is also open to revisiting controversial provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
According to Gutierrez, Robredo will also be amenable to a reassessment of the terrorist designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) as so-called terrorist organizations.
Robredo shall also initiate a review of the cases of political prisoners, including jailed NDFP peace consultants, to facilitate their release.
More presidentiables for talks
Earlier, Robredo’s rival for the presidency, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, also said he is amenable to a review of the CPP, NPA and NDFP’s designation as so-called terrorist organizations as part of the creation of an atmosphere for the resumption of formal peace negotiations.
“Basta ako, yung peace talks, we must seek for it as much as possible. Not only the Communist Party but those other,” Moreno, during a campaign sortie in Lucena last Monday, said.
(For me, we must seek peace talks as much as possible. Not only with the CPP, but with other armed groups.)
Moreno served as NDFP Negotiating Panel resource person during talks between the Rodrigo Duterte GRP and the NDFP in 2016 and 2017.
Senator Manny Pacquaio and labor leader Leody de Guzman also said they will resume formal peace negotiations with the NDFP in the first two episodes of CAJP’s forum.
The Peace and the Presidentiable forum is organized in cooperation with the Lasallian Justice and Peace Commission of the De La Salle schools; Father Saturnino Urios University; Silliman University Student Council; St. Scholastica’s College, Manila; and, the University of the Philippines.
More NDFP consultant disappeared
Meanwhile, human rights group Karapatan sounded an alarm over the disappearance of NDFP peace consultants Ezequiel Daguman and Edwin Alcid.
Karapatan image
Karapatan said 50-year-old Daguman and a companion have been missing since the afternoon of March 7 while they were on their way to a peasant community in one of the banana plantations in New Corella, Davao del Norte to look into the situation of workers and farmers in the area.
Alcid and two farmers were also reportedly accosted by military personnel last March 8 in Catubig, Northern Samar, the group reported.
Both consultants and their respective companions have not been located yet by their relatives, Karapatan added.
“We call on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to help the families of Daguman, Alcid and their companions to search military camps, police stations and safe houses to ensure that they are alive and are accorded their rights,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.
Daguman and Alcid make three the number of consultants to have been reported abducted since the start of the year.
Esteban Manuel was abducted last February 16 in Villareal, Samar and was kept incommunicado until the CHR found out he is being imprisoned at the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division camp in Calbayog City.
Like fellow NDFP peace consultants arrested, Manuel and his companions are accused of illegal possession of firearms and explosives that are the Duterte government’s standard charges against activists and dissenters.
Karapatan image
NDFP consultant Ramon Patriarca, already a former political prisoner, was arrested in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental last March 18, along with youth activists CJ Matarlo and John Michael Tecson were.
Karapatan has no details of the charges against Patriarca and companions.
“We assert the calls to surface Edwin Alcid and Ezequiel Daguman and to free Esteban Manuel Jr. and Ramon Patriarca now! These attacks on peace consultants and advocates must stop! We strongly urge the Philippine government and the NDFP to resume the peace talks as soon as possible for the sake of our people,” Palabay demanded.
Palabay reminded the government that peace consultants are covered by the (JASIG) that states peace consultants and peace panel members should be immune from arrests, detention, and harassment.
Despite the suspension of formal peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDFP, JASIG has not been formally terminated by both parties, she said.
Palabay said that the recent string of abductions and arrests of NDFP peace consultants “signal intensified attacks — and of worst things to come, especially with the Duterte administration’s self-imposed deadline to wipe out the NDFP. We can only expect the arrests, abductions, and even killings of peace consultants and advocates.”
“Our people deserve genuine peace. These attacks not only spoil efforts to advance just peace but instead perpetuates militarism, violence, and injustice. As we assert our calls to surface Edwin Alcid and Ezequiel Daguman and to free Esteban Manuel Jr. and Ramon Patriarca, we also call for the immediate resumption of the peace talks and to stop the attacks on peace consultants,” Palabay said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/leni.jpg9121280Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-03-24 11:03:332022-03-24 11:03:35Robredo commits to peace talks resumption
Senator Manny Pacquiao revealed he may have been an armed rebel if he did not become a legendary boxing champion.
Citing his humble roots in the mountains of Mindanao, the presidential candidate said he himself experienced the abject poverty that drives many to take up arms against the Manila government.
“If I did not become a boxer, there was a big chance that I would be in the mountains bearing arms,” Pacquiao said in the Peace and the Presidentiables online forum by peace advocates and universities.
The world’s lone eight weight division champion said poverty and mal-development, driven by corruption in government, are the root causes of armed conflict in the country, problems he vowed to eliminate if he becomes president.
The senator said he will revive the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and will make sure that agreements between both parties are respected and implemented.
“We should listen to them (rebels). There is solution to every problem. They ask nothing but development and food for everybody,” he said in Filipino.
Pacquiao said he is also open to honoring past agreements, such as free land distribution to poor farmers agreed and initialled by both parties in June 2017 before President Rodrigo Duterte cancelled formal talks.
The senator said that land grabbed from farmers and indigenous peoples by powerful and rich, particularly by those in government, must be returned.
“If I become president, I will not allow that to happen. Puputulin ko ang sungay ng mga ganid at mapagsamantala sa gubyerno,” he said. (I will cut the horns off the heads of the greedy and corrupt in government.)
Pacquiao also said he is not in favor of red-tagging activities by the government’s anti-insurgency arm, the National Task Force Against Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), especially against the innocent.
“NTF-ELCAC’s funds must instead be utilized for the genuine development of communities,” he added.
The presidential candidate also did not agree with the government’s designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army as terrorists as well as NTF-ELCAC’s statement that negotiating peace with the underground groups is naive.
“They are those who take up arms because of poverty and have seen they have very little chance of getting justice under this rotten system,” Pacquiao said.
The senator however declined to endorse the immediate release of NDFP peace consultants and other political prisoners as part of a confidence-building measure for the resumption of formal negotiations with the NDFP.
While acknowledging that many political prisoners may have been wrongfully jailed, he said he will instead endorse swift judicial procedures to allow the innocent to return to their families.
Responding to Pacquiao’s answers to questions on peace, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo said the senator’s humble origins makes him credible in identifying poverty, lack of jobs and development, the poor’s political disempowerment, and unequal application of justice as the root causes of armed conflict.
“The senator failed to fully explain his stand on the NTF-ELCAC but he is right in saying its funds must be used for real community development. It is notable that he also mentioned that ordinary police officers and soldiers are just being used by abusive government officials,” Araullo noted.
Pacquiao is the first among the May 2022 presidential candidates who attended the series organized by the Citizen’s alliance for Just Peace in cooperation with the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform, the Pilgrims for Peace, Sulong Peace and Waging Peace.
Tuesday’s online forum was supported by the La Sallian Justice and Peace Commission of Da La Salle University, Fr. Saturnino Urios University, the Silliman University Student Council,St. Scholastica’s College-Manila and the University of the Philippines. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/pac1.png16002560Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-02-15 17:24:192022-02-16 15:10:07‘Poverty, lack of development, corruption nearly drove me to take up arms’—Pacquiao
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said it has yet to receive verified reports on the death of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Pedro Codaste in a military operation in Bukidnon last Friday.
“We are still awaiting verification of the reported death of…Pedro Codaste (Ka Gonyong), supposedly in an armed encounter between the AFP and an NPA unit in Impasug-ong, Bukidnon last January 21,” the CPP’s website said.
“We will issue a statement as soon as we receive additional information,” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena added.
Codaste, alleged to be a top leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Mindanao, was reportedly killed in what the 16th Infantry Battalion said was a 30-minute gunfight in Barangay Kalabugao.
A certain Ka Zandro was killed along with Codaste, the military claimed.
A known NPA stronghold, Impasug-ong was where NPA National Operations Command spokesperson Jorge Madlos (Ka Oris) was killed in an alleged military ambush in October 2021.
Peace consultant
Arrested in 2010 and jailed in Bukidnon for alleged murder and attempted murder, Codaste was among the 19 NDFP consultants released at the start of the Rodrigo Duterte government to participate in the resumption of formal peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway in August 2016.
He also attended the second and third formal rounds of negotiations in Oslo and in Rome, Italy in October 2016 and January 2017, respectively, as a member of the NDFP Negotiating Panel’s Reciprocal Working Committee on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces.
The NPA leader had apparently gone back underground after the Rome round when then Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza notified the NDFP of the government’s bid to cancel the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees that would supposedly protect peace negotiation participants from arrest and harm.
President Duterte thereafter ordered the arrest of all NDFP peace negotiators while the military in Northern Mindanao issued a shoot-to-kill order against Codaste and others.
In May 2021, Codaste and 18 others were included in the government’s Anti-Terrorism Council list of so-called terrorists.
The CPP protested the government’s designation and called the 19, including Codaste, as “honorable revolutionaries who have served the cause of the Filipino people for national and social liberation all their lives.”
“Throughout the past decades, they have courageously stood side by side with the people and struggled against dictators and tyrants. They all have sacrificed personal ambition and selfish interests,” the CPP said.
“Unlike Duterte, these revolutionaries have only the clothes on their back to count as their wealth. They do not accumulate money from the government nor fleece the people with taxes,” the group added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/codaste.jpg7281500Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-01-28 10:34:522022-01-28 10:46:22CPP still awaiting verification of Codaste’s death
