Remedies to Obstacles or Problems in the GPH-NDFP Peace Negotiations

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Brief Presentation to Press Conference
Utrecht, The Netherlands, 14 November 2011

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
NDFP Negotiating Panel

Let me state to you the remedies that have been used or can be used to overcome or solve  10 major obstacles or problems in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations.
Let me refer quickly to every obstacle or problem and then state the remedy.

1.    Problem of diametrically opposite positions in a civil war

Remedy:  The Hague Joint Declaration (THJD) makes  it possible for the warring parties, GPH and NDFP,  to become negotiating parties. It declares that they are guided  by mutually acceptable principles of national sovereignty, democracy and social justice and that there shall be no precondition whatsoever to negate the inherent character and purpose of peace negotiations.  Both sides keep their respective political integrity in addressing the roots of the armed conflict by negotiating and agreeing on basic social, economic and political reforms.

2.    Problem of safety and immunity guarantees

Remedy: The Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) provides the guarantees for both sides.  Safety and immunity guarantees are necessary for the negotiators, consultants, staff and other personnel in the peace negotiations.  Safety of  such persons, documents and other things  is necessary before, during and after the peace negotiations. Immunity ensures that they do not become  criminally liable for what they utter or do in connection with the peace negotiations.

3.    Problem of venue in view of previous bad experience in the 1986 ceasefire talks

Remedy: The JASIG has stipulated foreign neutral venue, with facilitation of foreign governments.  During the ceasefire talks and ceasefire agreement in 1986 and early 1987,  the NDFP personnel and allies were put under surveillance by enemy intelligence.  Afterwards, a number of them were arrested, tortured and killed.  Peace negotiations in a foreign venue do not require mobilization of large security forces by the negotiating parties.  They are secure and economical for both sides.

4.    Problem of orderly meetings and consultations

Remedy: Ground Rules regarding these have been agreed upon.  To mention some of the rules, the chairpersons are responsible for the conduct of their respective panels and consultants and they co-preside  the formal meetings.  The chairpersons of the panels, teams or representatives thereof can engage in informal meetings and consultations to facilitate the formal meetings.  The third party facilitator is in charge of hosting and providing necessities for the talks and can attend the formal meetings.

5.    Problem of having substantive agenda towards a just and lasting peace

Remedy: THJD requires addressing the roots of the armed  conflict  by negotiating and forging agreements on basic social, economic and political reforms and sets  forth the substantive agenda: Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (already done);  Social and Economic Reforms; Political and Constitutional  Reforms; and End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces.  There is the Joint Agreement on the Formation, Sequence and Operationalization of the Reciprocal Working Committees for making the tentative agreements before finalization by the negotiating panels.  After a comprehensive agreement is approved by the panels, it is submitted to their respective principals for approval.

6.    Problem of legal and judicial framework

Remedy:  The CARHRIHL has used as main frame of reference the  international conventions on human rights and international humanitarian law and the negotiating panels adhere to their respective constitutions.  The prospective CASER avails of international conventions and the negotiating panels adhere to their respective constitutions. The prospective CAPCR will be guided by international law and will seek to make a new constitution on the basis of the constitutions of the GPH and NDFP and create new political mechanisms. The prospective EHDF will also be guided by international law and by a new constitution agreed upon by the GPH and NDFP.

7.    Problem of violations of JASIG and CARHRIHL

Remedy:  The NDFP has constantly demanded that justice be rendered to the JASIG-protected negotiating personnel who have been subjected  to imprisonment,  torture and  extrajudicial killings.  The  refusal of GPH to heed the demand for justice and the immediate release of the JASIG protected prisoners  can  be a just ground for the NDFP to withdraw from the peace negotiations but still the NDFP continues to demand and wait  for the GPH to comply with JASIG.   Like the entire people and the human rights, peace  and religious  organizations, the NDFP is demanding the release of more than 350 political prisoners  who have been tortured and imprisoned on trumped up  charges of common crimes in violation of CARHRIHL, particularly the Hernandez political offense doctrine.  The Aquino regime condones the human rights violations perpetrated under the Arroyo regime and is perpetrating its own.  The NDFP has the just ground to withdraw from the peace negotiations because the Aquino regime does not comply with the JASIG and CARHRIHL.

8.    Problem of demagogic demands for ceasefire to draw attention away from the  roots of the armed conflict

Remedy:  NDFP has offered truce and alliance on the basis of a general declaration of common intent in the spirit of encouraging and accelerating the peace negotiations.  Such offer is intended by the NDFP to counter the frequent demagogic demand of the GPH which obfuscates the need for addressing the roots of the armed conflict and tries to push the NDFP towards a position of surrender and pacification.  But if the GPH seriously takes the offer, then there can be an immediate truce and alliance in general terms that will certainly encourage and accelerate the forging of the three remaining comprehensive agreements on SER, PCR and EHDF.

9.    Problem of GPH  undermining  and seeking to nullify the THJD, the JASIG and even the CARHRIHL

Remedy:  NDFP simply has to uphold the existing joint agreements in opposition to the efforts of the GPH to undermine and nullify them.  The peace negotiations will not move forward or will even be terminated if the GPH does not remove the clique of clerico-fascists, military hawks and crooks that are in control of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.  Such clique is most responsible for the efforts to cast away the THJD on the false argument that it is a document of perpetual division, that the JASIG does not involve obligations but is only a matter of discretion for the GPH and that the CARHRIHL is not binding and effective, despite the approval of the principals. The current OPAPP has become notorious for attacking existing agreements with the NDFP or with the MILF. It is preoccupying itself with racketeering activities in connivance with certain paramilitary groups like the CPLA and the RPA-ABB which are misrepresented as rebel groups.

10.    Problem of  the Oplan Bayanihan, including US intervention and interference in the peace negotiations.

Remedy: NDFP exposes the US-designed Oplan Bayanihan as a military campaign plan masquerading as a peace and development campaign. We call on all peace-loving people to demand that the GPH, particularly the Aquino regime, engage in serious peace negotiations and build a just and lasting peace with the NDFP on the agreements already made.  According to Oplan Bayanihan,  the peace negotiations are merely a fig leaf on the naked brute force of the state.  The GPH is supposed to use sham peace negotiations if only to reinforce the psywar misrepresentation of the military campaign of suppression as peace and development operations.  The NDFP advises the GPH to engage in serious peace negotiations because the revolutionary forces are ready to frustrate the GPH strategy of deception and violence. ###

Aquino Regime is merely pretending for Peace Negotiations

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By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
25 October 2011
Noynoy Aquino presents himself as interested in peace negotiations.  But in fact he is not. He is merely pretending to be for peace negotiations in order to camouflage the extremely brutal military operations of Oplan Bayanihan and his actual instructions to Ging Deles, secretary of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to invalidate all previous agreements of the Government of the Philippines (GPH/GRP) with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
From Aquino through Deles to the negotiating panels headed by Alex Padilla and Marvic Leonen, the instruction is to invalidate all previous agreements with the NDFP and MILF by qualifying them to death or outrightly shoving them aside with utter arrogance.  The GPH is hell-bent on using the peace negotiations as a mere psywar instrument of Oplan Bayanihan and as a means of seeking the pacification and capitulation of the revolutionary forces.
The blatant lack of progress in the GPH negotiations with both the NDFP and MILF and the escalation of military campaigns of suppression by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP) and various paramilitary forces are now resulting in the intensified armed resistance of the NDFP and MILF and their respective revolutionary armies.  Thus, there is now a strong public clamor for the resignation or removal of OPAPP secretary Deles.
The clearest proof that Aquino has instructed Deles from the very beginning to work for the invalidation of previous agreements with the NDFP and MILF and the sabotage of peace negotiations is that he retains her in her position despite the strong public clamor for her resignation or removal as a consequence of the rising level of the armed conflict between the GPH and the revolutionary forces.
The Aquino regime is extremely hypocritical and treacherous.  It claims to be for peace negotiations but its obsession is to destroy all previous agreements and scuttle the peace negotiations.  It describes Oplan Bayanihan as a peace and development plan but it is essentially the same as Oplan Bantay Laya, a US designed counter-insurgency scheme for the brutal suppression of the revolutionary forces of the people. ###

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

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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

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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 and the Oslo Joint Statements Is Not a Precondition But an Obligation

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By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
10 September 2011
The Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly the GRP) through its negotiating panel is lying when it claims that Chairperson Luis Jalandoni of the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has agreed to go into formal talks without the obligatory releases of all or most of the 17 JASIG-protected persons as provided for in the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Oslo joint statements of January and February 2011.
The GPH must recognize that compliance with the JASIG and the Oslo joint statements is not a precondition but an obligation.  In refusing to recognize such obligation and claiming that the releases of the JASIG-protected persons depends on the whim of Alexander Padilla, Chairperson of the GPH negotiating panel, the GPH proves what the NDFP has been saying all along – that the GPH cannot be trusted to comply with mutually signed agreements, that it does not have word of honor, and that it has not been negotiating in good faith with the NDFP.
Since Benigno Aquino III came to power, the New People’s Army (NPA) has released seven (7) prisoners of war (POWs) on humanitarian grounds and as goodwill measure after due consideration for the safety of the POWs, their families and concerned local officials and personalities that interceded for their releases.  Safety consideration includes the suspension of military and police operations to ensure that nothing untoward would happen to the POWs that would put the blame on the NPA.
In contrast, the GPH has released only five (5) of the 17 JASIG-protected individuals, most of whom have been in prison since the time of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, despite agreements to release all or most of them by June 2011 under the Oslo joint statements.  The GPH also continues to detain more than 340 political prisoners in violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), despite appeals for their release by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), human rights groups and prominent personalities.
The GPH continues to harp that it has no obligations under signed agreements.  And it preconditions the next round of formal talks with the continuing violations of the JASIG and CARHRIHL and reneging on agreements.  The GPH has no interest in pursuing the peace negotiations with the NDFP.
The GPH is eager to scuttle the talks after failing to extract capitulation from the NDFP.  It wants to escalate its military suppression campaign against the revolutionary movement and the people through Oplan Bayanihan, a US-designed counterrevolutionary strategy that is masked under the signboard of peace and development campaigns.
The revolutionary movement is prepared for the escalation of the Aquino regime’s war of suppression through the intensification of mass struggles and heightening the people’s armed revolution in order to defend the people against the fascist onslaughts and brutalities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). ##

GPH Makes Resumption of Formal Talks Impossible And Obscures Dutch Complicity in Fouling Up Decryption Code

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By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
9 September 2011
The statements yesterday of Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda and Chairperson Alexander Padilla of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly designated as GRP) have made impossible the resumption of formal talks between the GPH and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
Luis Jalandoni and Coni Ledesma, chairperson and member, respectively, of the NDFP Negotiating Panel have been exhausting all diplomatic and political means to ensure that the formal talks between the GPH and the NDFP push through on a principled basis.
But the GPH response has been to publicly declare that it has no intention of complying with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Oslo joint statements of January and February 2011 by denying its obligation to release all or most of the 17 JASIG-protected individuals (as of February 2011) under its military custody.
Padilla even attempted to throw the blame on the NDFP for the GPH own non-compliance by citing the unsuccessful decrypting of the encrypted photographs in the safety deposit box.  Padilla feigns ignorance of the connivance between the GRP/GPH and the Dutch government in the raids conducted on seven houses in The Netherlands and the confiscation of all electronic equipments, including the decrypting diskettes, which resulted in the fouling up of the decryption code and the non-return of the most important diskette.
Chairperson Jalandoni has made clear that the NDFP is determined to pursue the peace negotiations with the GPH to address the roots of the armed conflict, forge agreements on basic social, economic and political reforms, and pave the way for a just and lasting peace in the country.  But the GPH must show good faith and comply with signed agreements – in this particular case the JASIG and Oslo joint statements as a positive step towards resuming the formal talks.
How can the GPH be trusted to comply with core agreements or any other agreement when it willfully refuses to comply with the JASIG, an agreement that merely guarantees the safety and immunity of individuals (including those of the Manila government) involved in the peace negotiations?  How can the GRP inspire confidence when it considers compliance with obligations under signed agreements as “precondition”?

Padilla Makes a Fool of Himself on JASIG

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By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
30 August 2011
In declaring the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) “inoperative”, Atty. Alex Padilla, Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly designated as the GRP), has practically terminated the JASIG without the required issuance of a notice of termination by the GPH principal.
He brazenly violates the JASIG and spits on the signature of the GPH principal.  He usurps the authority of his principal and steps on his head.  He is unleashing a surprise attack by removing the safety and immunity guarantees for the protection of persons involved in the peace negotiations and by emboldening the armed agents of the GPH to attack them.
The JASIG has been duly approved by the principals of both parties (Fidel V. Ramos and Mariano Orosa on 25 April 1995 and 10 April 1995, respectively) in the peace negotiations between the GPH/GRP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).  It can only be terminated by written notice of either principals as was done by Joseph Estrada on 31 May 1999.
The JASIG protects not only the holders of Document of Identification (DI) of the NDFP but also those publicly-known to be involved in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations as negotiators, consultants, staff, researchers, security personnel and couriers of both sides.  Moreover, the JASIG makes possible the peace negotiations which can be ended only when any principal decides to terminate the JASIG by issuing the required notice of termination 30 days in advance before it takes effect.
Padilla is determined to end the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations.  As a lawyer, he should know that encrypted photographs are photographs.  He also knows that encrypting these is dictated by security considerations and the verification of these photographs is not mandatory in the JASIG as he himself and his predecessors, Howard Dee and Silvestre Bello III, have done.
Padilla is indeed a fool for failing to know and respect the full scope and terms of the JASIG
despite his being a lawyer and the GPH chief negotiator.  He is killing the peace negotiations by blocking the release of all or most of the JASIG-protected persons in violation of the JASIG and the 2011 Oslo joint statements.
Compliance with signed agreements is an absolute requirement in any peace negotiations.  It puts the sincerity of the parties to the test.  OPAPP Secretary Deles and Padilla are completely destroying the prospect of a just peace through negotiations by attacking and seeking to nullify The Hague Joint Declaration and the JASIG.

Alex Padilla is an Incorrigible Liar

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By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
26 August 2011
In his continuing tirade against the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Atty. Alex Padilla, Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH), glosses over the fact that the New People’s Army (NPA) has already released seven (7) prisoners of war (POWs) since Benigno Aquino III became president.
Worse, Padilla also glosses over the extra-judicial killings (50), disappearances (8) and arbitrary arrests and detention (25) committed by the Aquino regime and the accumulated 350 political prisoners under its custody.
Padilla must understand that the current POWs under the custody of the NPA in Mindanao have been arrested in the course of the armed revolution and are not protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) like those 17 the GPH is obliged to release under the terms of the JASIG and the 2011 Oslo Joint Statements. Neither have the POWs of the NPA been the subject of agreement between the GPH and NDFP negotiating panels. Padilla implies the need to exchange prisoners but perversely accuses the NDFP of demanding such exchange.
Padilla insists on scuttling the peace negotiations by persisting in the wrong view that the GPH is under no obligation to comply with the JASIG and that there is no need for the GPH and NDFP negotiating panels to meet before the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RWCs SER) and other sub-panel organs of the two sides meet, despite certain outstanding problems that the panels have to tackle.
Padilla continues to lie that there have been 24 years of peace negotiations. The GPH and NDFP negotiating panels have been able to meet and have normal recesses for a total of only two years because of the GPH declarations of unsheathing the sword of war, indefinite suspensions, termination and collapse, and its non-compliance with agreements.
Since taking on the position as chairperson of the GPH Negotiating panel, Padilla has allowed himself to become the tool of Deles and those forces that do not wish to address the roots of the armed conflict. He has become a pliant purveyor of lies and military psywar aimed at reversing and nullifying solemn agreements between the GRP/GPH and the NDFP and destroying the peace negotiations.
It is obvious that Padilla and the pro-imperialist and ultra-reactionary forces behind him are not interested in reaching agreements on basic reforms or even only a declaration of common intent as the basis for a truce. They perversely consider as capitulation for the GPH to make any agreement with the NDFP that upholds national independence and democracy and requires land reform and national industrialization to realize social justice and genuine development.

The Obstructionism of Deles

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By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
25 August 2011
Secretary Teresita “Ging” Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) does not seem to be interested in reaching political settlements with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front of the Philippines (MILF) by addressing the roots of the armed conflicts.
Since she assumed her post, her personally supervised negotiating panels with both the NDFP and the MILF have been attempting to undermine and unilaterally amend or discard all previously signed agreements and documents in the peace negotiations between the GPH and the NDFP, on the one hand, and the GPH and the MILF, on the other, before and since these were formally started in 1995 and 2001, respectively.
She has adamantly refused to recognize the continuing character of the peace negotiations.  She has tried to arrogantly abrogate agreements previously signed by duly constituted GPH negotiating panels and approved by GPH Presidents Ramos and Estrada, respectively.
For instance, the GPH panel negotiating with the NDFP insists that The Hague Joint Declaration, the framework agreement that allows the two Parties to meet across the negotiating table, is a “divisive document”.  And the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), as well as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), are just “confidence-building-measure” agreements.
In the case of the MILF, the GPH negotiating panel attempted to unilaterally replace the duly designated Facilitator before the resumption of the formal talks in February 2011.  And, in the last GPH peace proposal presented to the MILF on 22 August 2011, the GPH panel has practically derogated all signed agreements or documents including the historic Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001.
Secretary Deles should learn to build from previously signed agreements/documents instead of obstructing the peace negotiations from moving forward by attempting to reverse or nullify previous agreements and impose her will on the processes.

Obligations Under Signed Agreements Must Be Complied With

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By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
22 August 2011
Atty. Alexander Padilla, Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH), is foolish in hurling false and vicious accusations against the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
The Joint Statements signed in January and February 2011 in Oslo, Norway, between the GPH and the NDFP, clearly stipulate that the GPH shall release most or all of the 17 NDFP personnel protected under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), before the second round of formal talks in June 2011.  It is now August 2011 and there are still 13 JASIG-protected individuals in prison.
The GPH is under obligation to comply with signed agreements, if it expects the NDFP to enter into an agreement on social and economic reforms.  The GPH must have palabra de honor and release most or all of the JASIG-protected individuals before the rescheduled second round of talks in September which it has itself proposed to the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) in a letter dated 15 July 2011.  There is a Tagalog saying that concretely applies to the present situation: ang balasubas ay kailanma’y di mapagkakatiwalaan (one who reneges on agreements can never be trusted).
In shooting down the NDFP offer of truce and alliance, Atty. Padilla has also foolishly misinterpreted the offer given that is based on the Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace.  It is obvious that Atty. Padilla is hellbent on scuttling the peace negotiations, both its regular and special tracks.
For the information of Atty. Padilla, the regional authorities of the revolutionary movement have the right to hold Lingig Mayor Henry Dano for investigation for actively participating in military operations against the people.  Mayor Dano shall be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the people’s democratic government.
Atty. Padilla should stop accusing the NDFP of what the GPH is precisely doing – holding hostage the JASIG-protected individuals to extract concessions from the NDFP or set preconditions for the second round of talks.  He should instead recognize the clear obligations of the GPH under signed agreements.  But thanks to his foolish talk, the NDFP is now duly forewarned of the malicious intention of the GPH in the peace negotiations.