Ecumenical Voice for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (EcuVoice)

Press Statement
September 25, 2018

A recent interview of AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galves and Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr. revealed the sad truth that the Armed Forces of the Philippines remains in a quagmire of anti-democratic war-mongering, stale conspiracy peddling, and vicious red-tagging of known peace advocates in the GRP-NDFP peace process.

In dropping the names of Rey Casambre and former congressman Satur Ocampo as being in the center of an imagined, nay, invented conspiracy plot, the AFP has provided concrete evidence that they are indeed war-mongering peace-spoilers. Rey Casambre of the Philippine Peace Center and Satur Ocampo of Pilgrims for Peace are publicly known peace advocates. Their efforts in seeking to move the peace talks forward in addressing the roots of the armed conflict towards the aspiration of a just and enduring peace in the Philippines are well known to peace advocates throughout the country and internationally.

Naming Casambre and Ocampo as central figures in the AFP’s poorly concocted conspiracy theory makes abundantly clear that Duterte’s state forces are prone to fascist machinations and red-tagging which undermine democracy and impinge upon democratic freedoms.

Many peace advocates—both in the Philippines and around the world—will insist that part of peace building is allowing and even encouraging the participation of dissenting and marginalized voices in government and society. In contrast, the blatantly oppressive character of the military was revealed as they repeatedly warned of infiltration by communists in government. Peace advocates applaud the participation of progressive, pro-poor leaders in government, especially as they have been seen to deliver reforms and services that benefit the poor and toiling majority.

The AFP made evident that they wish to blame a faltering economy on the opposition. They even went as far as to accuse the opposition of manipulating the price of rice. This is ridiculous. Meanwhile, they also exposed the lie of their so-called “Whole of Nation” approach where the military seeks to control and manipulate access to basic and social services for their anti-insurgency campaign, while feigning that they are apolitical.

We want peace for the Philippines. The way to move in this direction is to resume GRP-NDFP peace talks intended to address the roots of the armed conflict. The negotiating parties had hammered out meaningful agreements, ready for signature, on much needed Socio-Economic Reforms. These very peace spoilers in the AFP and the security cluster are the ones standing in the way of democracy and peace building.

The public would be wise not to give an iota of credence to the AFP’s conspiracy tales. An open opposition exists. It would be much worse for democracy in the Philippines if it didn’t. And as Duterte’s military henchmen grasp at straws to attempt to tie together these perceived strands of opposition and falsely render them into a tidy conspiracy, they only lay bare their penchant for military rule.

On some level, President Duterte appears to have coalesced with their thinking. We must urge him that it is not too late to recalibrate toward peace talks and addressing historic injustices and root causes of armed conflict in our beloved homeland. People like Rey Casambre of the Philippine Peace Center and Satur Ocampo of Pilgrims for Peace would welcome such developments.

As President Duterte continues to follow the AFP’s war-mongering and martial law, opposition will continue to grow in response to increased oppression and militarization. Not only should we not believe this conspiracy they are peddling, we must encourage the Duterte administration that peace-building and resuming GRP-NDFP peace talks is the better option altogether. ###

Reference:
Bishop Rex RB Reyes, Jr., D.D.
Convenor, Ecumenical Voice for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (Ecuvoice)

Fidel V. Agcaoili
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
September 13, 2018

The Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) welcomes the passing of House Resolution 1803 by the House Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity on September 12, 2018 that urged President Duterte to resume the peace talks.

The resolution is a positive move by the committee members and contributes to calls of various other sectors and groups to continue the peace negotiations. We hope this welcome move by the House Special Committee can encourage President Duterte to go back to the negotiating table and work towards a just and lasting peace.

When Duterte unilaterally terminated the peace talks in November 2017, there were already significant advancements in the negotiations in the form of tentative agreements on the sections of agrarian reform and rural development and national industrialization and economic development of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER); coordinated unilateral ceasefire; and, amnesty of all political prisoners listed by the NDFP.

These agreements had been formulated and initialed by representatives of the GRP and NDFP during the monthly informal or back channel talks from March to June 2018 and were subject to finalization in the aborted fifth round of formal talks on June 28, 2018.

The NDFP is always open to resumption of peace negotiations in accordance with all signed agreements such as The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG), and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), without preconditions. ####

Kodao Productions
28 June 2018

National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said they could no longer negotiate with a government headed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

In his strongest statement condemning Duterte’s repeated cancellation of formal talks yet, Sison said the Filipino people, especially the oppressed and exploited, cannot expect any benefit from negotiating with Duterte’s government, adding the president has broken so many promises related to the peace process.

“It is relatively easier and more productive for the NDFP to participate in the Oust-Duterte movement and to prepare for peace negotiations with the prospective administration that replaces the Duterte regime,” Sison said Thursday (June 28).

Sison said the Duterte regime is on record as having terminated the peace talks so many times that it is indubitably responsible for the termination of peace negotiations.

“It is therefore just for the revolutionary forces and the people to wage people´s war for national liberation and democracy,” Sison said.

Sison added that it would be well and good if Duterte withdraws finally from the peace negotiations with the NDFP.

But, in so doing, Duterte would deprive himself of the opportunity of creating false illusions that he is for peace, Sison said.

“He stands isolated and ripe for ouster by the broad united front of patriotic and democratic forces,” Sison said.

Duterte’s many lies

In a two part statement, Sison mentioned several promises broken by Duterte, including an unsolicited declaration on May 16, 2016 to amnesty and release all political prisoners.

Duterte only released 19 NDFP peace consultants in August 2016 to allow them to participate in the talks while about 520 NDFP-listed others remain in various detention facilities nationwide.

Duterte has also terminated the peace negotiations with the NDFP three times since May 2017, even fouling up every attempt to resume formal talks through back channel efforts, Sison said.

After terminating the peace negotiations for the third time in November and December 2017, Duterte issued Proclamation 360 to terminate the peace negotiations and Proclamation 374 to designate the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.

The Department of Justice subsequently filed a case before the Manila regional trial court (RTC) to seek the proscription of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) and 600 individuals as terrorists.

“These are definitely obstacles to the resumption of peace negotiations with Duterte regime,” Sison said.

“Warm and cordial” start

NDFP’s negotiations with the Duterte government started well with the first two formal rounds of talks in Oslo, Norway described as “warm and cordial.”

Things turned sour, however, when a Philippine Army unit attacked an NPA camp in Arakan, North Cotabato in January 2017, killing an NPA fighter.

The attack came while the third round of formal talks just approved free land distribution as the centerpiece of a prospective agrarian reform and rural development agreement.

The five-month ceasefire in effect at the time, the longest between the NPA and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was subsequently cancelled by both parties.

The fourth round of formal talks in Noordwijk, The Netherlands in April 2017 was very nearly cancelled due to the insistence of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panel to negotiate a bilateral ceasefire agreement before further negotiations on social and economic reforms can proceed.

GRP negotiators explained that a bilateral ceasefire agreement are goodwill measures that would provide a conducive atmosphere for the continuation of formal talks.

No fifth round of formal talks has yet pushed through despite the arrival of GRP negotiators in Noordwijk in May and November 2017.

“The aforesaid actions of Duterte would have been enough bases for the NDFP to conclude that he is not at all interested in peace negotiations,” Sison said.

The CPP founder said the NDFP persevered and worked out a number of agreements with GRP representatives in back channel talks from March to June 2018, due in great part to the demands of peace advocates to remain on the negotiating table.

“The most important of these would have constituted the Interim Peace Agreement at the resumption of formal talks in Oslo from June 28 to 30,” Sison said.

The real reasons

Sison said the AFP and PNP’s wish to carry out to the end of 2018 their campaign plan to supposedly to finish off the NPA as well as to change the venue of peace talks to Manila are the real reasons why Duterte has canceled the resumption of peace talks in Oslo.

The change of venue is so that Duterte and the military can put the NDFP under their control, surveillance duress and manipulation, Sison said.

He said Ðuterte pretends to review in three months the entire process and all agreements in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations since 1992.

“By all indications, he will try to change the entire peace process and waste previous agreements. At any rate, he will try to impose on the NDFP changes that the NDFP will certainly reject,” he explained. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Philippine Peace Center
4/F Kaija Bldg. 7836 Makati Ave cor Valdez St.,Makati City, MM
Tel-(632) 8993439; Fax-(632) 8993416

Press Statement
5 July 2018

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s statement that the GRP is still open to the resumption of formal talks provided the NDFP complies with President Duterte’s preconditions shows utter ignorance, if not highhanded arrgance, in the conduct of peace negotiations.

Any serious and knowledgeable negotiator knows that imposing preconditions poisons the atmospheroe and is anathema to any serious, honest-to-goodness negotiation. It is in the nature of negotiations that two opposing Parties sit and find common ground in order to forge solemn agreements that are to their mutual, though not necessarily identical, interest.

In the case of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, the framework and foundation agreement—The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 – explicitly states:
The holding of peace negotiations must be in accordance with mutually acceptable principles, including national sovereignty, democracy and social justice and no precondition shall be made to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations. (emphasis ours)

Secretary Roque and Defense Secretary Lorenzana list the following as President Duterte’s preconditions for the resumption of the GRP-NDFP negotiations:

• Prof. Jose Ma. Sison must return to the Philippines and the peace talks must be held in the Philippines without a foreign third party facilitator
• no coalition government
• no arson, attacks, no revolutionary taxes
• NPA to stay in a safe areas (sic) under a ceasefire agreement
• no recruitment/mass mobilization

These preconditions are absurd because they ignore or deny the basic factual premise that a civil war has been raging for the past fifty years and that both sides have agreed to resolve the armed conflict through peaceful negotiations, with neither one imposing its will or its demands over the other across the negotiating table. To impose such preconditions on the NDFP is tantamount to demanding its capitulation or surrender, and therefore unacceptable.

The GRP’s own set of principles and guidelines governing its position and conduct in the peace negotiations (Ramos EO 125 and Arroyo EO 3) states:

“A comprehensive peace process seeks a principled and peaceful resolution to the internal armed conflicts, with neither blame nor surrender, but with dignity for all concerned.”

OPAPP Secretary Jesus Dureza and the entire GRP Negotiating Panel are well aware of this. Thus, Secretary Dureza, in his statement today, attempts to rectify, if not reverse, the boo-boo of Secretaries Roque and Lorenzana by describing these not as clear-cut preconditions but ambiguously as “the wishes of the President” to which the resumption of negotiations is “subject to”. The OPAPP and GRP Negotiating Panel, in the recent backchannel talks, had clearly treated these not as preconditions but as subject matters for negotiations.

The GRP would do well to get its act together. On matters of peace negotiations, the DND and Presidential Communications office should learn the basics as well as the nuances from the more knowledgeable and hands-on OPAPP and GRP Panel. Unfortunately, the latter’s credibility and negotiating power has been seriously eroded by the “postponement” of the formal talks and the DND-AFP’s rejection of the Stand Down of forces and prospective Coordinated Unilateral Ceasefire for fear that negotiations and ceasefires would only result in the further growth and strength of the NPA and entire revolutionary movement.

The result of all this ignorance and arrogance is that not only the GRP but the entire Filipino people are being deprived a useful venue for addressing and resolving the roots of the armed conflict. ###

______________________________________________________________________________
Reference: Rey Claro Casambre, Exec. Director; cp# 09436861956; philpeacecenter@gmail.com

THE SOURCE on CNN
July 4, 2018

NDFP Press Statement
Utrecht, The Netherlands
June 20, 2018

Representatives of the NDFP Negotiating Panel headed by Chairman Fidel V. Agcaoili and representatives of the GRP headed by GRP Negotiating Panel Member Hernani A. Braganza met in Utrecht, The Netherlands on June 18-20, 2018. The GRP representatives sought to explain to the NDFP the decision of the GRP to postpone the mutually approved schedule of the formal meetings in the peace negotiations to take place in Oslo, Norway on June 28-30, 2018.

Representatives of the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG), including Special Envoy Idun Tvedt, sat in the meetings in their role as Third Party Facilitator (TPF).

The meeting could not start on time on June 18 because the GRP team had to seek clarification from its Principal of the statement made by GRP Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque that the Third Party Facilitator had been dismissed. With the role of the TPF clarified, the meeting begun in the afternoon of the first day. The NDFP side assured the other side that the NDFP principal took note of the clarification. The role of the TPF is of key importance while there is need to hold formal peace negotiations in a foreign neutral venue in compliance with the pertinent provision in the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

The NDFP team listened to the explanation of the GRP team on the reasons for postponing the resumption of the formal talks and agreed that the peace negotiations continue despite the cancellation of the scheduled formal talks in Oslo on June 28 to 30. The agreements reached in the four rounds of informal talks in March, April, May and June 2018, remain valid and have the effect of continuing the peace negotiations under the direction of the principals and reaffirmation of previous agreements. In this regard, the two sides must comply with JASIG and its provision for a foreign neutral venue, consistent with the general practice of warring parties to negotiate peace outside of their country or their respective territories.

In the meantime, both sides expressed their intention to conduct separate unilateral consultations and in due course bilateral consultations according to their respective needs on the premise that the GRP and NDFP Negotiating Panels are mandated by their respective principals in accordance with existing agreements and that the GRP and NDFP are mutually determined to overcome obstacles and impediments to the peace negotiations.

The NDFP side will conduct consultations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) to review the remaining outstanding issues in the sections on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) and National Industrialization and Economic Development (NIED), as well as to polish its draft on Environmental Rehabilitation and Compensation and Upholding People’s Rights in order to prepare for the continuation of negotiations on CASER. It will also hold unilateral consultations with its working group on Political and Constitutional Reforms (PCR).

Finally, the two sides expressed their commitment to protect and preserve the gains that had been achieved in the four rounds of informal talks that produced documents containing important agreements to move the process forward.

The NDFP delegation expressed its gratitude to the Royal Norwegian Government for their invaluable and unwavering support to the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations in their role as Third Party Facilitator.#

Interviews posted on Jun 15, 2018

Interview with Rey Claro Casambre on CNN Philippines in News Night with Pia Hontiveros

Interview with Rey Claro Casambre on ABS-CBN News Channel with Christian V. Esguerra

Philippine Peace Center – Press Statement
19 June 2018

Once again, and for the nth time, we are witnessing the abortion of what would have been the much-awaited resumption of the fifth round of formal peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. The formal talks would have tackled the meat of the negotiations – Social and Economic Reforms that would decisively address the very roots of the armed conflict.

But this time, the reasons being offered by the GRP through various sources from the President and his Spokesperson down to the Negotiating Panel, to the DND and even lower to the Army spokesman, are not only downright confusing, because always vague, often contradictory and patently baseless. They also throw the entire peace negotiations into a darker cloud of uncertainty, threatening even to derail the talks permanently.

Ano ba talaga, ‘te?

It has become starkly clear that there are deeper reasons for the “postponement” than the supposed need for the President to study the documents produced by the four rounds of backchannel talks. . These documents, after all, have been at least three months in the making, with the GRP negotiating panel constantly requesting breaks to check and countercheck with their principals if they are still in line with their marching orders.

No less dubious is the purported aim of “engaging the bigger table”, the public at large, on issues and in discussions to “lend legitimacy to the process”. Have both panels not been doing so since the talks began in 1992? And why desist from holding the formal talks while consultations are ongoing? While it is being packaged as a fresh approach, “engaging the bigger table” is really an old, worn out track – lumang tugtugin at sirang plaka — that had been employed by the Arroyo and Aquino administrations with the intent and end result of never coming back to the negotiating table to discuss the ubstantive agenda, the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms.

More telling is the oft-repeated call to hold the peace talks here in the Philippines instead of a neutral venue abroad, and the proposal to do away with a Third Party Facilitator, the role the Royal Norwegian Government has ably performed and for which both the GRP and the NDFP has hitherto expressed unequivocal appreciation and gratitude.

The fact is that the entire GRP – the President and his Cabinet, Congress, and the Judiciary, know very well that the NDFP would never agree to holding the peace talks in the Philippines. The solemn agreements signed by the GRP and NDFP Negotiating Panels explicitly state that the peace talks shall be held at a foreign neutral venue. This has been strictly observed for the last 26 years. Insisting on holding the talks here is tantamount to calling off the negotiations.

The clear and simple reason is that there is no way peace talks held in the Philippines can be protected and spared from sabotage by the spoilers and enemies of a genuine peace process – those who oppose meaningful reforms that would alter the status quo in favor of the greater majority of the population.

This lesson was learned the hard way in 1986-87, when the peace talks abruptly collapsed after the January Mendiola Massacre. Fourteen were killed and scores wounded when government troops fired at peasants peaceably airing out their demand for land. When the NDFP panel asked the GRP panel if the GRP could assure them of their safety should the talks continue, the GRP panel replied, “We ourselves are not assured of our own safety?!”

After the talks collapsed, hundreds of NDFP personnel who were unavoidably exposed during the talks were killed or captured. Then Defense Secretary Ramos himself boasted that the military’s intelligence stock had increased by at least 40% as a result of the talks.

Finally, the postponement until a “conducive and enabling amosphere” is achieved can now be dismissed as hogwash. In the first three instances that this was adamantly invoked, the GRP categorically pointed to a joint ceasefire as the “enabling condition”. Yet, it has shamelessly and without due and proper explanation withdrawn for the third time from an agreed-upon simultaneous ceasefire to which the NDFP had acceded explicitly and in writing, and was poised to observe.

Evidently, the military feels on the verge (ad nauseam) of dealing the revolutionary movement a deathly blow, and would not want its momentum throttled in any way by a ceasefire of any sort? Has Mr. Duterte then chosen to indefinitely postpone” the formal talks, despite the completion of nearly all preparations he himself had ordered and allowed, to give war, instead, another chance (ad nauseam) to succeed? Were all those preparations a diversion or smokescreen to conceal the real intentions?

Ito na nga ba talaga, ‘te?

The Philippine Peace Center joins other peace advocates, in strongly deploring this latest “postponement”, riddled as it is with crass inconsistency, lacking in integrity and forthrightness, and with thinly cloaked ill intentions.

No government worthy of its mandate would ever treat its people’s aspiration for a just and lasting peace in this shabby and cavalier manner.

We call on all those desirous of attaining genuine peace in our land to join us in demanding the resumption of formal peace talks, honoring all prior agreements, and addressing the roots of the armed conflict.

Carry the preparations for the 5th round to their logical conclusion!

Ituloy ang 5th round!

Press Statement
15 June 2018

KAPAYAPAAN views yet another sudden unilateral suspension by the Duterte administration of the GRP-NDFP peace talks set to take place end of June as a serious indication of its lack of commitment to peace and the political will to address urgent matters pertaining to the people’s welfare.

This recent suspension — irrational, unjustifiable and on flimsy basis — seriously puts the peace process in peril. Dureza’s repeated reference to a “last chance” for the peace process seems to indicate government’s real intention to terminate the peace process. This, at a time when the two panels are on the cusp of signing a coordinated unilateral ceasefire and provisions on agrarian reform and rural development (ARRD) as well as national industrialization and economic development (NIED).

That the suspension comes after a command conference with the Armed Forces of the Philippines shows the power that warmongers wield over the civilian branch of this government. Time and again they have exhibited dominance in government decisions on the peace question. Defense Secretary Lorenzana’s most recent statement cynically casting doubt on the CPP-NPA’s compliance with the Stand Down Agreement discussed in backchannel talks is apparently nothing but another thinly-veiled attempt to scuttle the peace talks.

The suspension becomes more cause for alarm given the efforts of Duterte’s supermajority in the House of Representatives to railroad charter changes and a supposed anti-terror legislation that is clearly meant to quell rebellion through an iron hand. Thus we fear the suspension may be part and parcel of the Duterte administration’s overall scheme to close all avenues for negotiations and dissent. For in truth, the peace talks have provided strong and solid ground for expressing the people’s perspectives on government policies fundamental to national interest.

The Duterte administration has taken the peace talks into a labyrinth. It will surely earn the ignoble distinction of having killed prospects for a peaceful solution to the armed conflict that has been raging in this country for almost five decades.

Peace advocates and all patriotic Filipinos must make sure that the Duterte administration does not put a bullet into the heart of the peace process.#

15 June 2018
Reference: Sharon Cabusao-Silva 09272264493

Christian V. Esguerra, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jun 14 2018 07:40 PM

MANILA— An “exasperated” Jose Maria Sison on Thursday denounced what he called the government’s “unilateral” decision to postpone the resumption of formal peace negotiations between the government and the communist movement initially set later this month.

The exiled communist leader, who is eyeing a possible homecoming later this year, said the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was not informed before peace adviser Jesus Dureza announced the postponement.

“I am not only disappointed but exasperated,” the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines said, adding the government “turned against written agreements” signed during backchannel talks in the Netherlands from June 5 to 10.

In a separate statement, Sison urged the negotiating panels to release the agreements it signed earlier this month.

“I urge the two negotiating panels to release to the public and to the press the written and signed agreements of June 9 and 10 signed by the chairmen of the GRP (government) and NDFP negotiating panel and by the members of their respective special teams,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday government needed more time before resuming formal negotiations, which were supposed to take place on June 28.

Duterte arrived at the decision following a command conference on Wednesday in Malacañang where he was briefed on developments in the backchannel talks.

Dureza later announced in a palace press conference that government negotiators had been told to first consult the “bigger peace table” involving the public. The peace adviser also cited the lack of an “enabling environment” to resume formal talks.

INCENSED

“That is a lot of bullsh*t,” Sison said when told about the reasons cited by the government.

“Duterte and Dureza want nothing but the immediate capitulation of the revolutionary movement under the guise of an indefinite ceasefire and killing the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations,” he told ABS-CBN News from Utrecht where he has been on self-exile.

“If that is what they like, the revolutionary forces and people have no choice but to single-mindedly wage a people’s war for national and social liberation, especially at this time that the broad united front of patriotic and progressive forces are already isolating and weakening the Duterte regime.”

BACKCHANNEL

NDFP peace panel chief Fidel Agcaoili said a team of government negotiators was set to fly to Utrecht over the weekend to explain the “adjustments” in the negotiations’ schedule.

“Of course we consider this a setback from the schedule that we have already agreed upon,” he told ABS-CBN News.

“But we are ready to receive their team this weekend.”

Agcaoili said the NDFP panel had been told that Duterte wanted to first “study” documents related to the resumption of the peace talks.

Both sides were supposed to sign an interim peace agreement if formal negotiations resumed later this month.

The deal was predicated on agreements on agrarian reform and national industrialization, an amnesty proclamation, and a coordinated unilateral ceasefire.

A stand-down agreement was to be simultaneously declared on June 21, which was a week later than what had been previously agreed upon.