The NDFP is open to continuing peace talks

By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
30 April 2013

The Aquino regime is acting irresponsibly by issuing bellicose statements about terminating the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. It again shows no respect for binding peace agreements. For one, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) of 1995 requires that written notice be given by one party to the other in order to terminate the JASIG and the peace negotiations. No written notice of termination of the JASIG and the peace negotiations has been given by the GPH to the NDFP.

The reported statement of GPH Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda that OPAPP Secretary Teresita Deles has informed the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) about the GPH’s termination of the peace talks with the NDFP is completely untrue. Ambassador Ture Lundh, the Royal Norwegian facilitator states that neither formally nor informally has the RNG been informed by the GPH of such termination.
The JASIG stipulates that only 30 days after receipt of the written notice, is the termination in effect. Furthermore, all immunity guarantees contained in the JASIG remain in full force even after such termination.
The NDFP has continually asserted that it is committed to peace negotiations that address the roots of the armed conflict and pave the way to a just and lasting peace.
However, GPH Negotiating Panel Chairperson Alexander Padilla falsely accuses the NDFP of putting preconditions before resuming formal peace talks. He mentions the NDFP demand for the release of detained NDFP consultants. Such NDFP demand, however, is not a precondition but an obligation of the GPH. It calls for respect for and compliance with the JASIG of 1995 and the Oslo agreement signed in February 2011. This is a matter of GPH’s word of honor.
The public should be informed that the GPH under the Aquino regime has not released a single detained NDFP consultant in compliance with JASIG. All the five NDFP consultants released since 2010 have been due to legal actions undertaken by their lawyers.
The Aquino regime has shamelessly continued the the Arroyo regime’s practice of arresting and detaining NDFP consultants on false charges of common crimes and thereby violating both the JASIG and Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). The Aquino regime has also ignored NDFP demands for the serious investigation of the disappearance, torture and extrajudicial killing of NDFP consultants under the Arroyo regime.
It is the GPH that insists on the precondition of indefinite ceasefires in violation of the The Hague Joint Declaration which puts the agenda on end of hostilities and disposition of forces as the final agreement after forging agreements on social and economic, and political and constitutional reforms. Without basic economic, social and political reforms there cannot be a just and lasting peace in the country.
The GPH also violates the aforesaid declaration by preconditioning formal talks with the capitulation or surrender of the NDFP and the forces and people under the guise of demanding indefinite ceasefire. It is preposterous to expect the NDFP to agree to an indefinite ceasefire that would give ground to the GPH to ignore more than ever before the substantive agenda on social, economic and political reforms.
Since March 1998, after the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), the NDFP has given the GRP (now calling itself GPH) the NDFP Draft of a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforsm (CASER). But up to now, the GPH has not submitted its own draft on CASER. In fact, it has resisted taking up genuine land reform and national industrialization as key points to address the roots of the armed conflict.
Now the GPH even declares “national industrialization” an outmoded concept. Yet no country in the world has ever achieved economic development without national industrialization. The GPH’s concept of neoliberal globalization has been roundly discredited in developing Latin American countries. At the February 2013 talks, the GPH representatives even called land reform and national industrialization “ideologically charged” concepts when these are patriotic and progressive demands.
In short, what the GPH wants is to justify the continuing plunder of our natural resources, the destruction of the environment and the exploitation of our people, especially the indigenous peoples by big foreign multinational mining, logging and agricultural companies. This plunder by foreign monopoly corporations is dubbed by the GPH as “industrialization”.
The NDFP is willing to move towards the resumption of formal peace talks, based on the previously signed binding agreements. The peace negotiations should address the roots of the armed conflict through fundamental economic, social and political reforms which will pave the way to a just and lasting peace. We are glad to know that the RNG remains committed to help in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations.
The GPH-NDFP peace negotiations can advance only on the basis of the agreements forged since 1992. Even the special track of seeking truce and cooperation is possible only because of the continuing validity and effectivity of the aforesaid agreements. It is reckless for anyone on the GPH side to say that it can pursue alternative ways of negotiating with the NDFP by ignoring or violating these agreements.
(Sgd) LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel

Aquino government commits war crimes in violating International Humanitarian Law

By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel

25 March 2013

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) condemns in the strongest possible terms the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and its armed forces for committing war crimes in violating international humanitarian law.

Earlier, in a statement, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed that the New People’s Army killed an average of one civilian per week in 374 violent incidents in 2012. This, and the statement that the civilians killed in the 27 January La Castellana incident were deliberately targeted, are sheer lies and mere psywar attempts aimed at discrediting the revolutionary national liberation movement in the country represented by the NDFP.

To set the record straight, the figures being peddled by the AFP are false, to say the least, paling in comparison to the number of violations of international humanitarian law actually committed by the armed forces of the GPH. Under the Aquino administration alone, 748 violations of international humanitarian law were recorded from complaints filed against the GPH with the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC).

The use, occupation or attack of private residences, schools, and other public places (e.g. day care centers and barrangay halls) is the leading violation against civilians, with 146 recorded incidents. Not included in this number is the use of the Sadanga National High School in Mountain Province by elements of the 54th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army as a military detachment since 2009, as reported by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2011.

The other common violations were: divestment of property, 121 instances; killings, 102 instances; destruction of property, 87 instances; and forcible evacuation and displacement, 72 instances, all of which were committed in pursuit of military and paramilitary operations against civilians and communities suspected of supporting or under the influence of the revolutionary movement.

Other violations of international humanitarian law were also recorded:
indiscriminate gunfire, strafing, bombing, and aerial bombardment of civilian communities (51 instances), from which four (4) civilians had died; use of civilians in police, military or paramilitary operations as guide and/or shield (34 instances); exploitation of children in the context of armed conflict (19 instances); forced recruitment or conscription of children (14 instances); and the creation, maintenance and support of paramilitary groups within civilian communities (nine instances). There were also victims who, aside from being forcibly displaced from their residences, collectively experienced denial of humanitarian access and medical attention (nine instances), food and other economic blockades (five instances), and hamletting (two instances).

Fallen revolutionary fighters who, under international humanitarian law were entitled to rights as hors de combat, suffered from atrocities in the hands of GPH security forces. There were four (4) horrifying incidents of mutilation and desecration, and refusal to tender the remains of NPA members who were killed in battle.

The GPH has been diverting the people’s attention away from these deplorable facts — of committing war crimes in implementing Oplan Bayanihan, the US-designed counter-insurgency military strategy of the AFP. But the people will not be fooled and misled by psywar propaganda of the GPH. They have stood witness to the truth that GPH armed forces are war criminals and leading violators of international humanitarian law. No amount of perverting the news will change this fact.

Once again, the Aquino government is being reminded that it is responsible for these gross violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. It is accountable under universally accepted rules of war and international humanitarian law, as well as agreements which the GPH has forged with the NDFP. As such, it should address these violations, abide by its commitment under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and engage in good faith in the peace negotiations in order to solve the roots of armed conflict.#

Status and Obstacles to the Resumption of Peace Negotiations

by Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
14 November 2011
Since 1969, for 42 years, there has been an armed conflict in the Philippines, between the armed forces of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the revolutionary forces represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
After the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in 1986, ceasefire talks were held in 1986 in Manila, resulting in a 60-day ceasefire agreement. Panels of the GRP and NDFP began talks to set an agenda for substantive peace negotiations. After the massacre of peasants marching for land reform in January 1987, these talks collapsed.
In 1992, preliminary talks were resumed to lay the ground for peace negotiations and gave birth to The Hague Joint Declaration. The formal peace negotiations began in Brussels in 1995. Since 1992, twelve bilateral agreements have been forged between the GRP and the NDFP.
The NDFP engages in peace negotiations in order to address the roots of the armed conflict. Land reform to benefit the peasantry, who comprise 75% of the population of 94 million; national industrialization to develop the backward agrarian economy and harness the rich natural resources; these and other basic reforms are aimed for by the NDFP in the peace talks.
The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 stipulates the substantive agenda of human rights and international humanitarian law, socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms and end of hostilities and disposition of forces. It is the framework agreement, declaring that principles of national sovereignty, democracy and social justice shall guide the two Parties. Neither Party may impose its constitution. Capitulation may not be demanded.
In 1995, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) was signed. This is vitally important because it guarantees safety and immunity to all participants in the peace process from both Parties. The guarantees include safe and unhindered passage in all areas in the Philippines and immunity from surveillance, arrest, detention and other punitive actions.
In 1998, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) was completed. This is the first of the four substantive agenda. This requires both Parties to observe the highest standards of HR and IHL, such as those contained in the Geneva Conventions. A Joint Monitoring Committee is mandated by the CARHRIHL to monitor the implementation of CARHRIHL.
All three agreements, as with other agreements, were approved by the respective Principals of both Parties.
In 2001 the Royal Norwegian Government came in as Third Party Facilitator.
Last February 2011, formal peace talks resumed in Norway after almost seven years of impasse under the Arroyo regime. Both Parties agreed that all or most of the 17 NDFP Consultants detained by the GRP/GPH in violation of the JASIG must be released.
GPH refusal to release them has been a major obstacle to resumption of peace talks because without compliance with JASIG, the panelists and consultants cannot function. Respect for JASIG is needed to build confidence.
The next talks aim to take up socio-economic, political and constitutional reforms.
An offer of the NDFP for alliance and truce, presented last January, has so far no adequate and concrete response from GPH President Aquino. The offer is based on a 10-point program expressing the fundamental aspirations of the Filipino people for land reform, national industrialization, genuine national independence and democracy.
A very serious obstacle is the GPH’s undermining of basic bilateral agreements. In February, the GPH Panel, for the first time ever, attacked The Hague Joint Declaration as a document of perpetual division. It has also declared that the JASIG does not require compliance. It is only at their whim that they shall release detained NDFP consultants covered by the JASIG. It refuses to release the 350 political prisoners in accordance with the clear directive of the CARHRIHL.
Instead of complying with basic agreements, the GPH engages in continuous, vicious, deceptive and even simplistic propaganda attacks against the NDFP and avoids or refuses to seriously sit down and tackle the questions and issues on social, economic and political reforms. It perpetrates widespread human rights violations and has not effectively staved off the climate of impunity.
A huge obstacle is the US government. Its Counter Insurgency Guide of 2009 is followed by the Aquino regime in its Internal Security Plan, Oplan Bayanihan. This aims to militarily defeat the New People’s Army through the triad concept of combat, intelligence and civil-military operations. Furthermore, the US stations interventionist troops in the Philippines.
The NDFP is firmly committed to pursue peace negotiations that address the roots of the armed conflict. It is determined to overcome the problems and difficulties with effective remedies. It is resolute in its decision to carry forward the people’s struggle for national and social liberation. #

Indefinite Postponement and Non-Compliance are Obstacles to Meaningful Peace Negotiations

by Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
19 October 2011
Peace advocates in the country and abroad will be frustrated and deeply disappointed with GPH Panel Chair Alexander Padilla’s announcement of indefinitely postponing the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Their high hopes for the advance of the peace negotiations and the forging of agreements addressing the roots of the armed conflict are dashed     by this Padilla announcement.
Padilla, Secretary Teresita Deles, and other GPH officials obstinately refuse to comply with the GPH obligation to release NDFP Consultants in accordance with the Joint Agreement and Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Oslo Statements of January and February 2011.
Justifying the GPH denial of its obligation, Padilla falsely claims that the NDFP is demanding the aforesaid releases as “a precondition”. He disregards his own signature on the January 18, 2011  Joint Communique: “The GPH agreed to work for the expeditious release of the NDFP Consultants and JASIG-protected persons  in accordance with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and in the spirit of goodwill.”
Nine months have passed and the “expeditious release” has not been carried out for all or most of  the 17 NDFP detainees covered by JASIG protection. Only four were released in late July and early August 2011.
An obligation arising from a bilateral agreement is not a precondition. The reciprocal agreement  approved by the Principals of both Parties requires both Parties to respect and comply with the agreement.
The GPH Negotiating Panel has attacked The Hague Joint Declaration, the bilateral agreement acknowledged by both Parties as the foundation and framework of the peace negotiations, as           “a document of perpetual division between the parties.”  Previous GPH negotiating panels affirmed The Hague Joint Declaration. Only this current GPH Panel has attacked it in writing.
Now, Padilla is attacking the JASIG, claiming that compliance with it is not an obligation, but a mere goodwill measure to be carried out only at GPH whim.
In his futile attempt to justify the GPH reneging on its word, he falsely accuses the NDFP of “extortion”, “blackmail” and “putting up obstacles”. The words are wrongly applied on the NDFP and amount to baseless namecalling.
The NDFP Negotiating Panel strongly criticizes GPH Panel Chair Padilla and Presidential Adviser    on the Peace Process Teresita Deles for attacking the foundations of the GPH peace negotiations.
Respect for previous bilateral agreements is required to move forward. Indefinite postponement and non-compliance with agreements ignore the people’s widespread demand for peace talks that address the roots of the armed conflict. ###

Aquino Regime Misses the Essential Point at Issue

by Luis G. Jalandoni

Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
5 October 2011
President Aquino reacts to the offensives of the New People’s Army against certain mines in Surigao del Norte as if he were merely the caretaker of the foreigners and local big compradors. He thinks only in the narrow terms of favoring foreign investments, even if extremely exploitative. He is concerned only with providing military security for them.
He completely misses the following essential points: 1. the extraction of nonrenewable resources such as mineral ores for export at dirt cheap prices kills the Philippine prospects for industrialization, 2. the indigenous people are subjected to dispossession of land, mass dislocation and ruination of their lives and culture; and 3. the unbridled mining poisons the environment and damages agriculture and other forms of livelihood.
Aquino is unmindful of the fact that the rivers and creeks as well as the coastal waters of Claver in Surigao del Norte are already poisoned and that the Tribal Coalition of Mindanao et al, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court on May 30, 2011 against the mines targeted by the NPA.
Aquino shows no regard for the essential issue in the indigenous people’s struggle for the very life of their communities, their children, their way of life, their future. This essential issue is clear in the petition cited above for a writ of Kalikasan calling for a Temporary Environmental Protection Order against Taganita Mining Corp., Platinum Group Metals Corp., Oriental Synergy Mining Corp., Shenzhou Mining Group Corp. and Marcventures Mining Development Corp..
The first two mining corporations stated above were subject of the NPA attack on October 3, 2011. The third corporation attacked is a sister company of Taganita Mining Corp.
The respondents are charged with “destroying and polluting the ancestral domain” of the petitioners “by failing to provide proper siltation dams for their nickel mines, thereby irreversibly damaging marine resources, mangroves, corals and created serious health risks to the prejudice of the lives, health and properties of the tribes and inhabitants of the Provinces of Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.”
The petition states that the University of the Philippines Natural Sciences Research Institute (UP-NSRI) tested the water and soil samples taken from the mentioned river and water systems and found nickel levels as high as 190 mg/L while the maximum acceptable level of nickel in drinking water should only be 0.02 mg/L according to the Department of Health (DOH) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).
The policy of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines is to ban the mining corporations that destroy the livelihood, the environment and aspiration for industrial development and violate the rights and welfare of the indigenous people and the entire Filipino nation. It is emphatically the firm policy of the revolutionary movement to protect the indigenous people and their ancestral domain and to prevent further damage to the environment.
Instead of being worried about the threat level or trying to lure investors, the Aquino government
must heed the just demands and deep aspirations of the indigenous people and other sectors of Philippine society. #

Compliance with JASIG Requires Release of Alan Jazmines and Other NDFP Consultants and JASIG-Protected

by Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
28 May 2011
The sincerity of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) under President Noynoy is under serious question because of the failure to release Alan Jazmines and other NDFP Consultants and JASIG-protected persons.
The GPH through its Negotiating Panel committed itself “to work for the expeditious release of detained NDFP consultants and other JASIG-protected persons in compliance with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and in the spirit of goodwill.”
Now, more than four months after that commitment was made in the Joint Communique of January 18, 2011, seventeen NDFP Consultants and JASIG-protected persons are still detained in GPH prisons. Alan Jazmines, appointed by the NDFP national leadership as Member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms (RWC-SER) is unable to fulfill his crucially important function for the SER negotiations which address the roots of the armed conflict. Instead of being released, he has been threatened with forcible transfer by the military.
Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara who signed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) certificate for the release of Army Major Noel Buan in April 2011 is still shackled to his bed. The NDFP demands his release in accordance with JASIG because he is publicly known to have participated in the peace process. The release of Major Buan was done to enhance the atmosphere for the peace negotiations, which were resumed in Oslo a few weeks later on April 27, 2001.
The continuing failure of the Aquino government to stand by its commitment for expeditious release in compliance with a solemn peace agreement, the JASIG, signed by both negotiating panels and approved by their respective Principals, then President Fidel Ramos and NDFP Chairman  Mariano Orosa, seriously prejudices the advance of peace talks on social and economic reforms and political and constitutional reforms.
The GPH must also show concrete results of its commitment, declared during the formal talks on February 15-21, 2011, “to undertake steps for the release of prisoners and detainees.”  More than 340 political prisoners await concrete action by the GPH in accordance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
President Aquino must act decisively to honor solemn GPH commitments so that the peace negotiations can advance. Expeditious release does not mean months of non-compliance and indecision. #

Closing Statement

Opening Statement

JASIG is a Key Agreement in the GRP/GPH-NDFP Peace Negotiations

By Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel

13 February 2012

The Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) is a key agreement in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly designated as GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

In its preamble, the JASIG stipulates that: “The primary purposes of the safety and immunity guarantees hereby adopted are to facilitate the peace negotiations, create a favorable atmosphere conducive to free discussion and free movement during the peace negotiations, and avert any incident that may jeopardize the peace negotiations.”

In other words, the JASIG is meant to test the good faith, sincerity and commitment of both the GRP/GPH and NDFP to relentlessly pursue the peace negotiations to arrive at comprehensive agreements on basic social, economic and political reforms and help pave the way for a just and lasting peace in the country.

The NDFP has dutifully complied with the JASIG by faithfully respecting the safety and immunity guarantees of all those involved (negotiators, consultants, staffers, security and other personnel) in the peace negotiations on the side of the GRP/GPH.

On the other hand, the GRP/GPH has persistently violated the JASIG with the arrests, torture, killing and disappearance of those involved on the NDFP side, from the arrest and killing of Sotero Llamas, the continuing detention of Alan Jazmines and others, and the abduction and disappearance of Leo Velasco, Prudencio Calubid and Rogelio Calubad, among others.

If the GRP/GPH cannot be trusted to comply with the JASIG, how can it be trusted to comply with substantial agreements on social, economic and political reforms? As we have said earlier, palabra de honor or good faith is a key question in any negotiation. ###

Jasig is a key agreement on the GRP/GPH-NDFP Peace Negotiations

By Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
13 February 2011
The Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) is a key agreement in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly designated as GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
In its preamble, the JASIG stipulates that: “The primary purposes of the safety and immunity guarantees hereby adopted are to facilitate the peace negotiations, create a favorable atmosphere conducive to free discussion and free movement during the peace negotiations, and avert any incident that may jeopardize the peace negotiations.”
In other words, the JASIG is meant to test the good faith, sincerity and commitment of both the GRP/GPH and NDFP to relentlessly pursue the peace negotiations to arrive at comprehensive agreements on basic social, economic and political reforms and help pave the way for a just and lasting peace in the country.
The NDFP has dutifully complied with the JASIG by faithfully respecting the safety and immunity guarantees of all those involved (negotiators, consultants, staffers, security and other personnel) in the peace negotiations on the side of the GRP/GPH.
On the other hand, the GRP/GPH has persistently violated the JASIG with the arrests, torture, killing and disappearance of those involved on the NDFP side, from the arrest and killing of Sotero Llamas, the continuing detention of Alan Jazmines and others, and the abduction and disappearance of Leo Velasco, Prudencio Calubid and Rogelio Calubad, among others.
If the GRP/GPH cannot be trusted to comply with the JASIG, how can it be trusted to comply with substantial agreements on social, economic and political reforms?  As we have said earlier, palabra de honor or good faith is a key question in any negotiation. ###