Closing remarks at Fourth Round of Formal Talks

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Noordwijk, The Netherlands, April 6, 2017
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front o the Philippines

Her Excellency Elisabeth Slattum, Special Envoy to the Philippine Peace Process,
Hon. Secretary Jesus Dureza of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process,
Hon. Silvestre Bello, Chairman of the GRP Negotiating Panel,
Dear Compatriots in the Panels and Entire Delegations of the Governmentof Republic of the Philippines and the Natinal Demoratic Front of the Philippines,
Distinguished guests and friends,

The fourth round of formal talks has come to a successful conclusion. As the NDFP Chief Political Consultant, I congratulate both the GRP and NDFP panels and their respective delegations. I thank the Royal Norwegian Government, specially the special envoy and her staff, for having patiently and efficiently facilitated the round.

The Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RWCs-SER) have exchanged their respective comparative color-coded matrices identifying the contentious provisions and those that are acceptable in principle in the NDFP and GRP drafts in order to accelerate the process of concluding a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

The RWCs-SER identified the contentious provisions in the NDFP and GRP draft under Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD), clustered them into nine major topics and have held initial discussions regarding these. Consequently, the RWCs-SER agreed to form and convene Bilateral Teams composed of three members each and supervised by RWC-SER members to work on the sections on the ARRD and National Industrialization and Economic Development (NIED).

The bilateral teams are scheduled to hold work meetings in Metro Manila or elsewhere as may be mutually agreed upon in the Philippines. They have agreed on a progression of work meetings, involving discussions and common drafting. They have required themselves to submit reports to the RWCs on SER one week before the fifth round of formal talks.

I propose that the RWCS and bilateral teams to start drafting the executive orders and the legislative bills to be annexed to CASER and aimed at realizing the social and economic reforms required by CASER. In this connection, research has to be accelerated on what is to be done by the public and Filipino private sectors in cooperation o achieve ARRD and NIED. The Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill should should be taken into account in making a new land reform law. The priority industries to be established in order to lay the industrial foundation of the Philippine economy should be listed up in consultation with the industrial experts and prospective Filipino investors.

In the forthcoming round, the RWCs-SER shall discuss and work on the remaining items under the Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (Part IV), National Industrialization and Economic Development (Part V), Environmental Protection, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Part VI), and the outputs of the bilateral teams.

After devoting so much time to the subject of ceasefire before and during the current round, the GRP and NDFP have agreed to formulate an interim joint ceasefire agreement that will boost trust and confidence in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. They have agreed to direct their respective Ceasefire Committees to meet in-between formal talks “to discuss, formulate, and finalize the guidelines and ground rules for the implementation” of the agreement.

The prospective ceasefire’s guidelines and ground rules shall govern the presence of armed units and elements of both parties in local communities, the creation of buffer zones, the definition of prohibited, hostile, and provocative acts. A ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism is provided for to oversee the ceasefire’s implementation and handle complaints and alleged violations. The Interim Joint Ceasefire Agreement shall be signed immediately after the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

Matters concerning a single govermental authority and taxation shall be properly discussed in forging the Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms (CAPCR). Such matters can be finally resolved by the GRP and NDFP co-founding the Federal Repubic of the Philippines. Thus, the NDFP will not be capitulating to a pre-existing government but can assume reponsibilities in the new government.

The Interim Joint Ceasefire Agreement shall be valid and effective until a permanent ceasefire or truce is forged as part of the Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces (CAEHDF) or otherwise terminated by any of the two Parties for any reason we cannot foresee now. The ceasefire agreement is necessary and of high importance. But far more important and decisive in realizing a just and lasting peace is the adoption and implementation of basic social, economic and political reforms that are needed an demanded by the Filipino people.

We look forward to the fifth round of formal talks with high hopes. We all expect that before the forthcoming round a great deal of work has been accomplished by bilateral work meetings under the RWCs on SER and by the Ceasefire Committees of the GRP and NDFP. We aso expect the Reciprocal Working Groups on CAPCR to work in preparation for participation in the fifth round.

Thank you.

Closing Remarks at the Second Round of Formal Talks

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By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front of the Philippines

Hon. Special Envoy Elisabeth Slattum and other officials of the Royal Norwegian Government
Hon. Silvestre Bello III and Fidel Agcaoili
Beloved Compatriots in the GRP and NDFP Panels and Delegations
And all dear friends present,

As NDFP chief political consultant, I congratulate both the GRP and NDFP panels and delegations for the successful conclusion of the second round of formal talks in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

The most essential success that has been achieved is the agreement on common outlines of prospective comprehensive agreements on social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms and the end of hostilities and disposition of forces.

The schedule for fleshing out of the outlines, and eventual exchange of drafts and bilateral meetings to forge the tentative comprehensive agreements has been further firmed up.

There is mutual understanding on the rendering of justice to the unjustly imprisoned political prisoners accumulated during the Arroyo and Aquino regimes through prompt compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

I reiterate that the amnesty and release of all political prisoners will be a big incentive to the attainment of a more stable joint or bilateral ceasefire and to the acceleration of the peace process.

The success of the second round of formal talks has been possible because of the mindful, caring and efficient facilitation provided by the RNG and in particular Special Envoy Elisabeth Slattum and her entire team and by the Norwegian Peace-Building Resource Center (NOREF). We thank all of you.#

STATEMENT AGAINST US MISLABELLING CPP AND NPA AS TERRORIST

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By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
June 4, 2016

In Philippine history, US imperialism is the biggest terrorist force by massacring 1.5 million Filipinos from 1899 to 1913. Since after World War II, the US has carried out wars of aggression and instigated massacres in several continents, murdering more than 35 million people. In the whole world today, it is the biggest terrorist force by carrying out wars of aggression in the Middle East and Africa, killing millions of people, destroying social infrastructure and rendering millions of people homeless and without means of livelihood and forcing them to flee to Europe by the millions. Read more

NEGOTIATIONS FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE: BACKGROUND, CURRENT STATUS AND PROSPECTS

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NEGOTIATIONS FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE: BACKGROUND, CURRENT STATUS AND PROSPECTS

Joma wishes Duterte success

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Joma wishes Duterte success

Aquino is Criminally Liable According to the Facts

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Aquino cannot escape topmost responsibility and ignominy for the gory Mamasapano fiasco. Despite the pussy-footing or overly diffident language towards Aquino and the thrust to put the main blame on Napeñas, the conclusions of the Board of Inquiry cannot avoid mentioning facts which point to the guilt of Aquino for relying on the suspended General Purisima, breaking the chain of command, making impossible timely reinforcements and causing the unnecessary death of his own 44 men in SAF.

Read the first three conclusions and pay attention to the unavoidable facts for which Aquino is criminally accountable.

1. The President gave the go-signal and allowed the execution of Oplan Exodus after the concept of operations (CONOPS) was presented to him by Director of Special Action Force (SAF) Police Director Getulio Napeñas.

2. The President allowed the participation of the suspended Chief Philippine National Police (CPNP) Police Director General Alan Purisima in the planning and execution of the Oplan Exodus despite the suspension order of the Ombudsman.

3. The President exercised his prerogative to deal directly with Napeñas instead of Officer-in-Charge of the PNP (OIC-PNP) Police Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina. While the President has the prerogative to deal directly with any of his subordinates, the act of dealing with Napeñas instead of OIC-PNP Espina bypassed the established PNP Chain of Command. Under the Manual for PNP Fundamental Doctrine, the Chain of Command runs upward and downward. Such Manual requires the commander to discharge his responsibilities through a Chain of Command.

A Cover-up for Aquino and Purisima

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Aquino wants to get away from his criminal responsibility in the bloody Mamasapano fiasco by trying to cover up the following:

1. Abusing his position as AFP and PNP commander-in-chief, he authorized the suspended PNP Chief General Purisima to plan and direct Oplan Wolverine and criminally disregarded the chain of command. Who else could have authorized Purisima? Not just Ochoa who can act only upon the authority and instruction of his President.

2. He and Purisima were chiefly responsible for the deliberate absence of coordination of Oplan Wolverine with the PNP chain of command and with the Philippine Army and Air Force.

3. He violated the ceasefire agreement with the MILF by deliberately failing to consult and coordinate with the MILF before the botched up operation in Mamasapano.

4. He was in Zamboanga in the company of his American bosses and handlers monitoring the final operation of Oplan Wolverine and waiting for it to succeed and give him US acclamation and international publicity.

Aquino expected to profit from Oplan Wolverine, he should accept responsibility for his criminality.

The board of inquiry formed under the command of Aquino will certainly cover up his criminal responsibility and make the SAF command take the responsibility to a minimized extent . The propaganda machinery of Aquino is now frenziedly accusing the MILF of brutality during and after combat in order to divert public attention and cover up the fact that Aquino and Purisima were the ones most stupidly and criminally responsible for sending the killed and wounded SAF troops to a death trap.

The scheme to generate a hate-MILF campaign to divert public attention from Aquino’s criminal responsibility is likely to paralyze, if not doom, the GPH-MILF peace negotiations during the remainder of Aquino’s stay in power. Aquino’s preoccupation with the consequences of his Mamasapano fiasco is also adversely affecting the resumption of the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations.

Aquino has a self-indulgent, small-minded and malicious kind of leadership. When Pope Francis was around, he was preoccupied with thinking of how to get back at his critics among the bishops and priests, instead of undertaking goodwill measures, like releasing the NDFP consultants and political prisoners, pleaded by the religious and human rights organizations. When there is a President like Aquino, what do you expect?

 

 

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Aquino and Deles are Preconditioning the Peace Negotiations, Using the OPAPP as Center of Military Psywar and Corruption

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The NDFP cannot trust any government that does not know how to comply with existing agreements like the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Agreement. The Aquino regime has unilaterally rendered this agreement inoperative by refusing to honor documents of identification issued under JASIG and by blocking the reconstitution of verification documents destroyed by the Dutch police as a result of the request of the Arroyo regime to arrest me and raid the NDF Information office and the private homes belonging to NDFP negotiators and consultants in 2007.

The same malicious person Teresita Q. Deles has occupied the position of OPAPP both under the regimes of Arroyo and Aquino and she is obsessed with nullifying all previous agreements, including The Hague Joint Declaration, the JASIG and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

She keeps on preconditioning the peace talks by maliciously demanding the nullification of the aforesaid agreements. She is also claiming that Generals Fidel Ramos and Manuel Yan, then president and OPAPP secretary, were not “military” enough or tough enough for allowing then Rep. Jose V. Yap and Justice Secretary to make the said agreements with the NDFP.
Thanks to Deles, she has sabotaged the peace negotiations under the last two presidents, Arroyo and Aquino, and has unwittingly contributed to the continuance of the people’s war for national liberation and democracy. Indeed, truce and cooperation with the NDFP can be realized only if there were a president who can stand for national independence, people’s democracy, social justice, economic development through national industrialization and land reform and a patriotic, scientific and progressive culture.

The NDFP can wait patiently for the crisis of the world capitalist system and local ruling system to further worsen and prod the president of the puppet republic to become patriotic and intelligent enough to seek national unity, peace and cooperation with the revolutionary forces and people represented by the NDFP.
Young cadres of the revolutionary forces have been replenishing the ranks of their veteran comrades. They can continue the people’s democratic revolution and protracted people’s war indefinitely until a negotiated peace agreement becomes possible.

In the meantime, the OPAPP is nothing but a psywar agency of the reactionary armed forces and is a major center of military and bureaucratic corruption in the abuse and misuse of the scores of billions of pesos under the Conditional Cash Transfer Program. The corrupt practices and violent military and police actions are deceptively called peace and development operations.###

Prof. Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant

Tribute to Comrade Leoncio Pitao (Commander Parago)

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By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Founding Chairman, Communist Party of the Philippines
Chief Political Consultant, National Democratic Front of the Philippines
June 29, 2015
I join the Filipino people, the people’s revolutionary government, the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the revolutionary mass organizations and other revolutionary forces in mourning the death of Comrade Leoncio Pitao (Commander Parago) and in celebrating his achievements from the time he joined the NPA in 1978 until his martyrdom yesterday on June 28, 2015.
It is fitting and proper that all of us accord him with the Red salute and the highest respect and honor for serving the Filipino people and the international proletariat. He is a great patriot, outstanding communist fighter and revolutionary commander. He has made significant contributions and the supreme sacrifice in the Filipino people’s democratic revolution for national and social liberation against foreign monopoly capitalism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.
Comrade Leoncio Pitao (Ka Parago) was devoted to the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and applied it successfully together with other comrades and the people in Southern Mindanao Region. He excelled as a cadre of the Communist Party of the Philippines and as a commander of the New People’s Army. He adhered to the Second Great Rectification Movement and carried forward the building of the Party, the people’s army and the united front.
In advancing the people’s war, he integrated revolutionary struggle with land reform and building the organs of political power and mass organization. He applied the line of extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare on the basis of a widening and deepening mass base. He developed the closest of relations with the working people, the indigenous people and allies.
He had a mastery of the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare, flexibly employing concentration, dispersal and shifting, depending on the need in a fluid war of movement. He became known nationally and internationally for the revolutionary victories as commander of the First Pulang Bagani Company in the Southern Mindanao Region.
As a result of correct political line and his effective tactical command, this heroic and glorious company has grown into the First Pulang Bagani Battalion. According to the Southern Mindanao Regional Command, Ka Parago planned and commanded the countless disarming operations in the 1980s and 1990s, the capture of General Obillo and Capt. Montealto in 1999, the raid on the Davao Penal Colony and other many tactical offensives.
Ka Parago was captured in November 1999 and was put in solitary confinement in the ISAFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo. He was offered by the enemy a huge amount of money as bribe for him to leave and denounce the revolutionary movement. But he outrightly refused the offer and upheld his loyalty and commitment to the Filipino people and the revolution.
The lawyers of the Public Interest Law Center and the Department of Justice pleaded to the court for his release as a goodwill measure of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. It was during this time that the Chairperson of the NDFP Negotiating Panel Luis Jalandoni and panel member Coni Ledesma were able to visit him and hold a press conference with him. Ka Parago was released from prison in 2001.
After his release, Ka Parago decided to rejoin the comrades in the countryside. And he continued to render outstanding service to the revolutionary cause of the Filipino people, especially in the battlefield. The enemy hated him so much that military agents abducted, tortured, raped and murdered his 22-year old daughter Rebelyn, a school teacher, and dumped her in a ditch in Panabo City in 2009. This barbarity became the subject of outrage among the people and human rights organizations in the Philippines and abroad.
Despite the abduction, torture, rape and murder of his daughter, he continued as a principled revolutionary to respect the policy of the CPP and NPA for according lenient treatment to prisoners of war as well as the International Humanitarian Law regarding respect for the human rights of the said prisoners. Exercising political wisdom, he went so far as issuing a statement to assure the families of enemy officers and men that there would be no retaliation on them. As a matter of justice under the people’s government, he sought out for punishment only those identified as the abductors and killers of his daughter.
So successful were the tactical offensives commanded by Ka Parago that prisoners were often captured. He and the Red fighters under his command used the necessary amount of force to achieve victory. But they were lenient and kind to the enemy officers and men who surrendered or survived the battle. The bodies of the dead were respected. The wounded were treated by NPA medical officers. The prisoners received the same food as the NPA fighters. They were released as soon as possible, as long as they were not liable for any serious criminal offense.
For an extended period already, Ka Parago had been ill with diabetes, hyperthyroidism, hepatitis and hypertension. He was under medical treatment at the time of his death. The comrades had advised him to take a leave for medical treatment outside his area of command but he insisted on staying close to the people. Investigation by the revolutionary authorities has established that on June 28, 2015 at 2:30 p.m., an enemy team raided Purok 9 of barangay Pañalum in the Paquibato district of Davao City, where Ka Parago was undergoing medical care, and that there was no encounter between units of the NPA and the enemy.
The enemy immediately raked Ka Parago with automatic fire upon sight of him. His unarmed medical aide Ka Kyle or Vanessa Limpag had the chance to raise her hands and shout that she was a medic. But she was mowed down by the enemy raiding team. The enemy has withdrawn the photo and video it previously published, showing the murdered Ka Parago in his homewear and barefooted, with two obviously planted Armalite rifles for photo takingclose to his and Ka Vanessa’s bodies .
The enemy in its propaganda is gloating over their brutal killing of Ka Parago and his medical aide. It is boasting that the revolutionary movement is “declining”. It is oblivious of the fact that before Ka Parago died he was able to educate and train so many revolutionary successors in 37 years of revolutionary struggle. In recent years, months and days, the reactionary armed forces and unwelcome foreign monopoly enterprises have been receiving lethal blows from the NPA in the Southern Mindanao region.
Ka Parago continues to live and fight for national liberation and democracy through his successors in the CPP, NPA and the mass movement. After his heroic martyrdom, his successors are inspired and are ever more determined to fight for a new and better world.
The reactionary armed forces have concentrated more than 50 per cent of their strength in Eastern Mindanao in the vain hope of defeating the NPA here since sometime ago. But within this area, the NPA has enough room for maneuver. The forces of the NPA are also taking advantage of the reduced strength of the reactionary armed forces in other parts of Mindanao and in the Visayas and Luzon in order to wage tactical offensives. These are not being reportedly fully by the bourgeois mass media.
There is no way for the imperialists and the local reactionaries to stop the growth of the CPP, NPA, the mass organizations and organs of political powers, because the crisis of the world capitalist system and the domestic ruling system of big compradors and landlords is ever worsening and the broad masses of the people detest the intolerable conditions of oppression and exploitation and are desirous of revolutionary change in the face of the ever worsening conditions of exploitation and oppression.
Long live the memory of Comrade Leoncio Pitao!
Advance the revolutionary cause which he fought and died for!
Long live the revolutionary struggle in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon!
Carry forward the Philippine revolution!
Long live the Filipino people!