PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
PRESS RELEASE | June 9, 2018

Human rights group Karapatan today said that instead of its repeated efforts to sabotage the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) through its war-mongering and militarist ways, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should stop its attacks against civilian communities and abide by previously signed agreements, such as the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

“Previously, during the unilateral ceasefire period between the two parties from August 21, 2016 to February 3, 2017, Karapatan documented human rights violations perpetrated by the military and police in line with the Duterte administration’s counterinsurgency program, with at least 17 extrajudicial killings of peasants and indigenous peoples, 20 frustrated killings, 109 arbitrary arrests, while 28 were arrested and detained. In this period too, thousands have been killed in the course of the implementation of the government’s war against drugs. The military’s presence, encampment and operations in civilian communities have escalated since then,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

Karapatan scored the AFP on the latest string of attacks against civilian communities, including killings of human rights defenders previously harassed and tagged by military personnel as NPA members or supporters. “Especially with martial law imposed in Mindanao, numerous cases of human rights violations have been reported and filed before complaints mechanisms, but these are being brushed aside and whitewashed by Malacañang,” Palabay stated.

On June 6, 2018, Higaonon peasant leader Jose Unahan, a member of the Unyon sa Mag-uuma sa Agusan del Norte-Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and an anti-mining activist, was shot dead in Sitio Tagbakon, Brgy. Culit, Nasipit, Agusan del Norte.

On May 27, Beverly Geronimo, a member of Tabing Guangan Farmers Association and also an anti-mining activist, was shot dead at around 12 noon last Sunday, when she, her daughter and two of their relatives were on their way back home in Brgy. Salvacion, Trento, Agusan del Sur. Two unnamed armed men in civilian clothes fired at them. Geronimo sustained seven gunshot wounds, one in the head, causing her immediate death. Her daughter and relatives survived. Due to her anti-mining activism against large scale mining companies such as OZ Metals and Agusan Petroleum, she had previously experienced threats and harassment, from soldiers of the 25th, 66th, 67th, and 75th Infantry Battalions of the Philippine Army encamped in their community since 2009.

“From May 15-31, 2018, some 160 members of the Dumagat tribe forcibly evacuated from their homes at Sitio Dadiangao, Brgy. Umiray. General Nakar, Quezon Province, due to military operations and encampment of the 80th and 202nd Infantry Brigades of the Philippine Army, 2nd Jungle Fighter Company, and the 2nd Infantry

Division-PA in their community. The military also imposed a food blockade, adding to the misery of the evacuees. This is reminiscent of hamletting style of military operations during martial law in Marcos’ time,” Palabay said.

“In Misamis Oriental, around 35 Higaonon families (or 158 individuals) from Sitio Camansi, Brgy. Banglay, Lagonglong put up a makeshift evacuation center at the Cagayan de Oro City provincial capitol grounds. The residents were forced to evacuate when soldiers of the 58th IBPA occupied their homes. It was the community’s sixth forced evacuation since 2015,” Palabay added.

In five villages in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, more than a hundred soldiers have encamped on communities and occupied Lumad schools since May 29.

“The widespread presence of soldiers in civilian communities offer no security for civilians. Instead, they are the primary purveyors of state terror and rights violations, and they also worsen the climate of impunity. This is the reason why people in communities detest the soldiers. They should pull-out from the communities,” Palabay concluded.

For reference: Cristina Palabay, Secretary General, +639173162831

Karapatan Public Information Desk, +639189790580

Reference: J de Lima
Chairperson, NDFP RWC-SER
Press Statement | May 28, 2018

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines – Reciprocal Working Group on Social and Economic Reforms (NDFP RWC-SER) welcomes the reported possible signing of an interim peace agreement. This is a sign of movement in the stalled peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

“This would be a significant development in the peace process, only if the interim peace agreement includes basic social reforms. The NDFP has always been consistent that social and economic reforms must be the cornerstone of any peace agreement.” said NDFP RWC-SER chairperson Julie de Lima.

De Lima said that the inclusion of the Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) and the National Industrialization and Economic Development (NIED) in the interim peace agreement would be the most significant step in the peace negotiations. It would be the first steo towards addressing the roots of the armed conflict.”

Bilateral teams of the RWC-SER, have agreed on the common drafts of ARRD and NIED. The still unresolved contentious issues are being referred to the RWC-SERs of the two Parties for resolution before negotiations at the level of the GRP-NDFP Negotiating Panels.

ARRD and NIED are two major sections of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), the second substantive agenda in in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. Five other substantive parts of CASER still need to be discussed. These include: Environmental Protection, Rehabilitation and Compensation (EPRC), Rights of the Working People, Monetary and Fiscal Policy and Foreign Economic Trade relations.

“Genuine agrarian reform with rural industrial development and national industrial and economic development that benefits and protects the rights of the working people are among the many issues at the heart of any peace agreement. Ceasefire alone will not resolve the centuries-old problems from which the Filipino masses have struggled to break free,” NDFP RWC-SER chairperson said.

She added that apart from pushing for basic social services, previously-signed agreements, such as the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and the Joint Agreement on safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), must also be complied with as a matter of justice.

Parties are expected to return to the formal negotiating table in June 2018.

By Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
May 24, 2018

Within the so-called Constitutional Commission, there is the drive of certain pro-Duterte elements headed by a retired general to draw up a a draft federal charter that makes easier the declaration of martial law by citing ¨lawless violence¨ or ¨a series of offensives by the New People´s Army¨ as the basis for the declaration of martial law.

Said drive of the pro-Duterte elements is an indication that the threat of martial rule, being declared before or after the charter change, continues to exist and does not augur well for the resumption and success of GRP-NDFP peace negotiations while Duterte is the president.

Instead of trying to scapegoat the NPA and make it the pretext for martial law declaration, state terrorism and fascist dictatorship, the Duterte regime should let the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations to succeed in addressing the roots of the armed conflict and laying the ground for a just and lasting peace through comprehensive agreements on social, economic and political reforms.

*****

Kapayapaan Campaign for a Just and Lasting Peace

Press Statement
May 23, 2018
Reference: Fr. Ben Alforque, Kapayapaan Convenor

We are heartened by recent reports of positive developments in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines ( GRP ) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

It augurs well for the country as we believe that peace negotiations provide an effective venue for the people — especially those most affected by the worsening political and economic crisis — to articulate their grievances and bring their demands to the negotiating table.

We urge both parties to ensure that the peace talks resume without any preconditions, and with only the interests of the people, and the nation, in mind.

We call on both parties to prioritize the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms ( CASER ) that will address the burdens being experienced by our people brought about by recently-imposed economic policies such as the TRAIN Law. We firmly believe that CASER can help lift our nation out of its social & economic malaise, and can possibly bring the armed conflict to a more peaceful resolution.

We call on both parties as well, to uphold agreements already laid out in the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law ( CARHRIHL ) as bases for building a “conducive” atmosphere for the peace process. Confidence-building measures can be initiated by both sides, the most urgent of which should be the release of political prisoners who have long suffered the injustice of imprisonment due to trumped-up charges and made to suffer subhuman prison conditions. There can be no real social justice nor genuine democracy in this country as long as the reality of political prisoners remain.#

MEDIA RELEASE
May 18, 2018

In a statement of “deep concern” over the alleged terrorist list filed in court by the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Council of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the Philippines (ECP) urged the DoJ Secretary to “withdraw the list if not the petition altogether” as great risk and threats of harassment looms on the individuals listed including two of the ECP’s members – International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) Global Coordinator Beverly Longid and the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.

The ECP statement was released in response to the DoJ petition filed at the Manila Regional Trial Court last February seeking to tag the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorist groups under the Human Security Act of 2007. The petition includes over 600 names accused of membership in the CPP-NPA. Other than Longid and Corpuz, both known as international Indigenous Peoples (IP) rights advocates who are also Indigenous Bontok-Kankanaey from the Mountain Province, IP leaders also found in the list are Joan Carling, Atty. Jose Molintas, Windel Bolinget, Jeanette Ribaya-Cawiding, Joanna Carino, Datu Isidro Indao, Datu Mandayhon, and Datu Mampadayag.

“Due to my social involvement, I have experienced threats, harassments, and intimidation from suspected State agents,” Longid said in her personal statement. Similarly, the ECP stated that human rights advocates and ECP members accused of trumped up cases reported being subject of harassments making them vulnerable to unjust vexation – something they believe should have ended during the Martial Law years.

Attacks on IP and human rights activists is “a reaction [of the government] to [the] defense of Lumads caught in the massive military operations launched by Rodrigo Duterte” as Tauli-Corpuz pointed out in an interview. Longid also stressed, “Impunity reigns in my country, and the pronouncements and actions of Duterte show his total disregard for human rights, peoples’ welfare and interests, and rule of law, undermining our tight to speak freely and other basic freedoms.”

The ECP expressed that, instead of vilifying and putting people in great risk, the government must push for the peace talks with the National Democratic Front to prosper by addressing the ‘socio-economic issues [that] have spawned the long-drawn conflict in this land’ and put an end to ‘killing each other for another generation’. The IPMSDL reports that numerous cases of IP rights violations, killings, and attacks on culture and ways of life are the result of state military and para-military abuses carried out under the guise of counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism activities.

“The International IPMSDL organization, and I in my personal capacity, is overwhelmed by this show of solidarity to drop the DoJ terrorist list. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the whole Council,” Longid declared regarding the ECP’s statement. “At the same time, we appeal to all to echo the call to dismiss and delist the names in the DoJ petition and stand for everyone’s democratic rights for lawful dissent without fearing for their safety and security.”

Reference: Beverly Longid, Global Coordinator | info@ipmsdl.org

ANC News Channel
April 23, 2018

ANC host Christian Esguerra and guest peace consultant, Rey Claro Casambre, Executive Director of the Philippine Peace Center talking about the prospects on the resumption of the GPH-NDFP peace talks.

See the full video coverage of the interview below:

By: Tina G. Santos – Reporter, Philippine Daily Inquirer
April 09, 2018

Leaders of various religious organizations have expressed support for President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to resume peace talks with communist rebels.

The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), the largest ecumenical formation of church leaders in the country, said it welcomed the recent statement of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza that the President had directed government negotiators to work on the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

“As leaders of churches in the country, we appreciate these developments … We hope that the atmosphere for the resumption of the stalled talks will continue to spread positively,” PEPP said in a statement.

‘Principled dialogue’

“PEPP has always championed principled dialogue over the negotiating table to resolve this 50-year-old conflict,” it added.

The statement was signed by Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ, and Fr. Rex Reyes Jr. of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines; Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. and Bishop Noel A. Pantoja of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches; and Sr. Mary John Mananzan, OSB, of the Office of Women and Gender Concerns of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines.

The group called on both the Philippine government and the NDFP to resume formal peace talks, through the third-party facilitation of the Royal Norwegian Government.

“We also call on both parties to fully implement the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and respect previously signed agreements,” it added.

Joma avoids word war

With the possible resumption of the stalled peace talks, exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison is avoiding engaging the President in another word war.

“I let him go in sounding tough and bellicose. At this time, I prefer to avoid exchanging harsh hyperboles with PRRD (President Duterte),” Sison said in an online interview on Saturday.

He said “let us give a chance to peace negotiations” to emphasize that like the President, he also wanted to revive the peace negotiation straightaway.

“The important thing now is that he allows his negotiating panel to negotiate and make agreements with its NDFP part,” Sison said.

The President has given a two-month deadline for the peace talks to resume.

He said he would want the resumption of the peace talks to be held in the country.

He also declared that he would give Sison and other rebel negotiators the freedom to move around while the peace talks were ongoing.

But in an earlier interview, Sison made it clear that the peace talks should be held in a foreign neutral venue as agreed upon by both parties to ensure the safety and protection of rebel negotiators. —With a report from Delfin T. Mallari Jr.

April 4, 2018

“The recent statement of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana referring to the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) as an example of the NPA’s insincerity show his utmost disregard for the Filipino people’s aspirations for economic development through national industrialization and land reform.”

This was the statement of NDFP Reciprocal Committee on Socio-Economic Reforms (RWC-SER) Chairperson J de Lima in response to the Secretary’s explanation of his hardline position against the resumption of the peace talks with the National Democratic front of the Philippines.

In a recent interview, Secretary Lorenzana mentioned that “nothing good will come out of it (peace talks) unless the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) agrees to their (the NDFP) unreasonable demands. He went on to cite the CASER as an example of the unreasonable demands.

The NDFP RWC-SER chairperson added Secretary Lorenzana is incapable of grasping the significance of negotiating the CASER. This simply demonstrates how far removed he is from understanding the people’s aspirations in liberating themselves from their continuing exploitation and oppression by the US and local exploiting classes..

The NDFP RWC-SER Chairperson stated that once negotiated, agreed upon and implemented the CASER would lead to a cessation of hostilities and basically resolve the armed conflict in the Philippines. Both the AFP and NPA troops and their families would benefit from land reform and industrial employment.

The NDFP’s draft proposal for a CASER is an immediate program for genuine social and economic progress that is achievable within current political and legal processes and can be implemented if the the current administration were interested in upholding the interests of the people against the social and economic forces that have kept our country economically backward, she added.

“We strongly urge Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to read the NDFP’s draft proposal for a Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) and the common drafts on ARRD and NIED that have been arrived at by the bilateral teams under the RWCs-SER of both parties before shooting his mouth off about unreasonable demands. . ” #eof

Kodao Productions
April 4, 2018

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent speech expressing “openness and readiness” to resume formal peace negotiations.

NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said they are likewise open and ready to resume the peace negotiations and expect the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and NDFP negotiating panels to meet as soon as possible.

Duterte last Tuesday again changed his mind and said he is ready to resume formal peace negotiations with the Left.

“I’d like to address myself first to the NPAs. Alam mo, hindi tayo magkalaban. Gusto ko mang lumaban, eh ang puso ko, sinasabi niya ‘ang kapwa mo Pilipino pinapatay mo,’” Duterte said in a speech in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.

“Gusto kong magkaroon tayo ng usapan. But along the way, papunta doon maraming obstructions and everything. But you must understand, hindi madali magpunta sa paratingan natin,” he said.

“And so if we can have a middle ground,” Duterte added.

In a statement issued a few hours after Duterte’s speech, Sison said the NDFP is “sincere in striving to negotiate and forge with the GRP comprehensive agreements on social, economic and political reforms to address the roots of the armed conflict and lay the basis of a just and lasting peace.”

Sison said making a significant advance on the basis of the drafts prepared on October 4, 2017 will also forward corollary agreements to amnesty and release all political prisoners as well as coordinated unilateral ceasefires between the parties’ armed forces.

“We hope that from here on we can make steady and significant advances on the road of realizing peace in accordance with the people´s demand for full national independence, democracy, social justice, economic development and cultural progress,” Sison said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

DAVAO TODAY
Mar. 29, 2018

MANILA, Philippines – National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison stressed on Tuesday that the cooperation of both chambers of Congress is needed for the revival and success of the peace talks between the NDFP and the government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

Sison said the concurrence of Congress is needed for a presidential amnesty proclamation to release all political prisoners in compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) in exchange for a mutually effective ceasefire as the first step towards the end of hostilities.

“The cooperation of Congress is also needed to pass the laws for enabling the realization and implementation of the policy agreements to be embodied in the comprehensive agreements on social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms and the end of hostilities and disposition of forces,” he added.

Since October 4, 2017, the NDFP said it had already positively responded to the expressed desire of GRP to draft a ceasefire agreement more effective and more sustained than the previous unilateral ceasefires, said Sison.

Sison also welcomed Senate President Aquilino Pimentel’s support of the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations and the withdrawal of the petition to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorist organizations.

“Ang personal position ko nga, formally or informally, dapat tuloy (ang peace talks). Kapwa Filipino e bakit tayo nagpapatayan,” Pimentel told reporters, Monday.

“Kung walang peace talks, talagang lines are drawn e, so anytime there could be attacks, there could be arrests, there could be killings, yun ang effect nun. So yung fear andun tataas, na anytime you could be attacked,” he added.

Sison said Pimentel’s statement was “encouraging to the NDFP and to all those interested in striving for just peace” and “rides well on the earlier resolution of the Lower House.”

The resolution, filed last March 22, was signed by 61 lawmakers from various political parties. They urged President Rodrigo Duterte to listen to the clamor of the people for a resumption of peace talks between the GRP and and the NDFP.

Sison said the NDFP is “definitely willing” to resume peace negotiations as soon as the GRP agrees.

However, if Duterte and his men are unwilling to negotiate peace, Sison said the revolutionary forces and people represented by the NDFP “have no choice but to concentrate single-mindedly on fighting those who lust for their blood, death and humiliation.

“The best test of sincerity is to maintain sobriety and reasonableness in the peace process, comply with mutually approved agreements and concentrate on the negotiation and forging of agreements on social, economic and political reforms to lay the ground for a just and lasting peace for the benefit of the Filipino people,” he added.

If peace talks will resume, he said, the full implementation of CARHRIHL and the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio Economic Reforms (CASER) can be achieved.

CASER, which contains the commitments of both panels for genuine agrarian reform and rural development, national industrialization and economic development, independent foreign policy and fiscal and monetary policies, among others, is seen as one of the steps to solve poverty and social inequality in the country. (davaotoday.com)