“With the alarming percentage of overcrowding and the lack of proper rations and means for hygiene in detention facilities, inmates are exposed to high risks amid the virus outbreak.”

Andres Bienrico Bisenio
April 15 at 8:31 AM

𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚

To mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the world health organization (WHO) has recommended frequent hand-washing and respiratory hygiene alongside physical distancing of at least one meter between any two persons.¹ As simple as these may seem, it is noteworthy that these are almost impossible to be attained by those who do not have the privilege to ample food and water supply.

As the global pandemic continues to intensify, with almost two million infected worldwide,² the need for mass testing, apt isolation, and competent governance and relief efforts; precise solutions for concrete problems becomes more and more urgent⁠—with priority given to those who are most vulnerable.³

𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙨

A report from the International Committee of the Red Cross indicates that as of March 2020, the occupied capacity of the 467 jails in the Philippines tallies to be at 534 percent.⁴ This number shows that jails are heavily congested. Because of the overcrowding alone, several thousands of inmates die every year.⁵

Although overcrowding already deals a heavy blow to the integrity of the welfare of prisoners, the lack of rationing worsens the situation. A 2018 senate probe on a correctional institute has revealed that only a fraction of the food budget per prisoner has been spent; 39 pesos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “𝘒𝘢𝘺𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘨𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘪𝘯.” ⁶

To fill the gap in provisions by prison facilities, visitors are left obliged to care for their imprisoned family or friends by regularly providing proper and healthy food and medications.⁷

With the alarming percentage of overcrowding and the lack of proper rations and means for hygiene in detention facilities, inmates are exposed to high risks amid the virus outbreak.

𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢

A city jail has implemented a ‘band-aid’ solution of having inmates stay in open spaces within the jail compound.⁸

While this may promote physical distancing, the danger of exposure to the virus remains the same as long as the prisoners remain cramped in overcrowded facilities.

To avoid such risk, advocacy groups such as Prisoners’ Enhancement and Support Organization (PRESO) and human rights alliance Karapatan are calling for the release of sick, elderly and other low-risk inmates.⁹

𝙂𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚

More than 500 of the aforementioned inmates exposed to peril are political prisoners – people who are imprisoned for their political beliefs and activities instead of actual, punishable crimes.

They end up in jail under trumped-up (false) charges of serious crimes often linked to terrorism⁠—when in reality, most of these people are peace advocates and peace consultants who were vanguards of mobilizing the voice of the Filipino masses.¹⁰

One of them is my grandfather, Rey Claro Casambre, who was apprehended during the midnight after my 16th birthday celebration. He was charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and two counts of attempted murder – which apparently took place in Lupon, Davao del Norte. (he was actually in Metro Manila when the apparent attempts at murder happened)

As my mother Xandra wrote, lolo Rey, as well as his fellow political detainees, do not belong in prison. For the aged and unwell, an immediate release and de-congestion of prison facilities would tantamount to being spared from a life-threatening coronavirus outbreak behind bars.⁷

The Supreme Court will have its meeting today. As we hope for a decision in favor of the petition for the immediate release of the sick and elderly, the everlasting call for unity, justice, and peace goes on.

#SetThemFree.
#FreeReyCasambre.

#FreeAllPoliticalPrisonersPH
#FightCOVID19

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗦
[1] https://www.who.int/…/novel-coronavirus-2…/advice-for-public
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Template:2019%E2%80%9320_coronav…
[3] https://www.karapatan.org/Test%2C+test%2C+test%2C+not+arres…
[4] https://www.hrw.org/…/philippines-reduce-crowded-jails-stop…
[5] https://edition.cnn.com/…/philippines-inmate-dea…/index.html
[6] https://www.rappler.com/…/241647-bureau-corrections-food-bu…
[7] https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10207469747739741&set=a.1046850829405
[8] https://news.abs-cbn.com/…/physical-distancing-impossible-i…
[9] https://news.abs-cbn.com/…/prison-emergency-pushed-to-preve…
[10] https://thedefiant.net/spare-a-thought-political-prisoners…/

“[W]e urge the immediate mass release of prisoners being held for low-level offenses and those who are very old and very sick,”

By MARLO MADRIGAL
Bulatlat.com
Mar 12 2020

MANILA — An organization of relatives of political detainees called for mass release of prisoners in congested jails amid the local outbreak of the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In a statement, KAPATID said such move is a “matter of justice.” “[W]e urge the immediate mass release of prisoners being held for low-level offenses and those who are very old and very sick,” the group said.

Prisoners aged over 60 and those with chronic diseases like tuberculosis are most vulnerable and will likely succumb to infection given the paltry or even non-existent medical care in prisons, the group added.

“That they are just prisoners anyway deserving of punishment is a boorish, unenlightened, illogical view. This is itself controverted by the FLAG report on the high judicial error rate of illegal arrests at 73 percent to 90 percent, and even by the Supreme Court’s own data on wrongful convictions, pegged at 72 percent, affecting especially prisoners belonging to the lowest socioeconomic class,” KAPATID said.

Also requested to be released were one spouse of each 10 political prisoner couple and those so-called “accidental” detainees in alleged politically-motivated arrests.

The group offers support to expedite the temporary release of prisoners.

“Our network of support among various university human rights law centers and legal and paralegal volunteers will readily assist government agencies to fast-track the paperwork for the mass release of prisoners,” it said.

The request takes inspiration from the Iranian government’s move to release 70,000 prisoners to prevent them from contracting the disease which originated from Wuhan, China.

Recently, the Philippine government has implemented lockdowns in jails. KAPATID called on the Cureau of Corrections and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to define clear parameters for the lockdown orders in their respective prison facilities, such as timeframe and procedures on how families of political and common prisoners can continue bringing in maintenance medicines.

KAPATID also urged the prison agencies to ”ensure a regular supply of face masks and alcohol disinfectants, as well as liquid soap” for frontline prison personnel.

*****

“This is a time for saving lives through much-needed grace and ingenuity. An undeniable threat of catastrophe hovers over jails, filled far beyond capacity in the Philippines. Decongesting facilities will help secure the lives of detainees and jail personnel.”

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
April 1, 2020

MANILA – Following the recent call of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to protect the health and safety of people in detention, different groups and individuals have echoed calls for the release of political prisoners to decongest overcrowded prisons in the country.

On March 31, Karapatan led the online campaign with hashtags, #SetThemFree and #FreePoliticalPrisonersPH to urgently appeal for the release of prisoners including political prisoners.

Bachelet stressed, “Now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views.”

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said they aim for the public to know about the struggles of the hundreds of political prisoners in the Philippines and why they should be immediately released.

“These are people who have been unjustly detained for their political beliefs and activism, and slapped with trumped-up charges to justify their imprisonment. Many of them are already advanced in age and suffering from debilitating illnesses,” Palabay said in a statement.

Using the internet, relatives and supporters added their voices to those who are clamoring for the release of their loved ones who are unjustly imprisoned for years.

Not ordinary times

“These are not ordinary times,” said Catholic Bishop Gerardo Alminaza in a statement.“This is a time for saving lives through much-needed grace and ingenuity. An undeniable threat of catastrophe hovers over jails, filled far beyond capacity in the Philippines. Decongesting facilities will help secure the lives of detainees and jail personnel.”

The bishop said President Duterte’s administration should act immediately to decongest prisons, conduct mass testing and provide separate quarantine facilities.

“Or else, God forbid, prisons and those in them may sink like the ill-fated Diamond Princess and other cruise ships, as social/physical distancing and self-isolation are spatially impossible,” Alminaza said further.

Peasant group Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) also joined the call, saying that most of the political prisoners are peasants and union leaders who simply exercise their civil and political rights by asserting the people’s right to land, just wages and job security.

Antonio Flores, UMA chairperson, said the Duterte administration can avoid the loss of thousands of lives in decongesting the country’s detention facilities by following the call of Bachelet and the people.

Congestion in prison

Palabay said the online campaign also aims to raise alarm on the condition of detention facilities in the country which has high congestion rates, lacking of clean water, sanitation, and adequate medical services and facilities.

Karapatan said data from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) showed that as of October 2019, jail congestion rate is at 450 percent. In 467 detention facilities in the Philippines, at least 380 are congested. The most populated jail is Cebu City Jail with 6,000 inmates, second is Manila City Jail with over 5,000 and Quezon City Jail with 3,700 detainees.

Meanwhile, at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), more than 5,000 inmates die annually due to overcrowding, disease and violence.

“These inhumane conditions in prisons imperil the life and health of detainees, particularly the sick, the elderly, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers,” Palabay said.

Jose Maria Sison said the NDFP is not assured and satisfied that the ceasefire announcement is based on national unity against Covid-19, the appropriate solution of the pandemic as a medical problem and the protection of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, including workers, health workers, those with any serious ailments and the political prisoners.

By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Kodao Productions / Bulatlat.com
March 19, 2020

GENEVA, Switzerland—There is no clear basis for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to rush into reciprocating the government’s unilateral declaration of ceasefire, its chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said.

In a statement, Sison said that while there is ongoing communication between the NDFP and Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiating panels, there is yet no agreement for reciprocal unilateral ceasefires in regard to efforts in containing the corona virus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

In asking for certain “considerations, requirements and modalities” for the NDFP to think about reciprocating GRP’s unilateral ceasefire announcement, Sison said there has to be clarifications.

He added that without such understanding, the ceasefire announcement by Malacañang Palace is “premature, if not insincere and false.”

President Duterte has decided to declare a unilateral ceasefire against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA), and the NDFP effective 00:00 hour of March 19 to 24:00 hours of April 15, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo announced Wednesday evening in Manila.

According to Panelo, the President directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), including the national defense as well as the interior and local government departments, to cease and desist from carrying out operations against the revolutionary forces.

Duterte last Monday publicly asked the underground communist groups for a ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic, promising to repay them “with a good heart in the coming days” if they agree.

Sison however said the NDFP is not assured and satisfied that the ceasefire announcement is based on national unity against Covid-19, the appropriate solution of the pandemic as a medical problem and the protection of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, including workers, health workers, those with any serious ailments and the political prisoners.

“Unless it receives sufficient assurances from the GRP, the NDFP will be inclined to think that the GRP unilateral ceasefire declaration is not sincere and is not intended to invite reciprocation by the NDFP but is meant to be a mere psywar (psychological warfare) trick,” Sison warned.

Sison pointed out that according to the people and their own forces in the Philippines, Duterte’s lack of sincerity in seeking a real ceasefire is manifested by the following”

The militarist lockdown on the whole of Luzon is mean not to fight the Covid-19 pandemic but to intimidate the people, suppress democratic rights, commit human rights violations and prevent the working people from going to their workplaces, and immobilize even the health workers and people who wish to be tested and treated for Covid-19 and other serious ailments; and
The AFP and the PNP continue to redtag, abduct and murder social activists, including human rights defenders, in urban areas and to unleash attacks against the people in the guerrilla fronts of the NPA.
The NDFP and the CPP earlier condemned the killing of senior cadre Julius Giron, his physician Lourdes Tan Torres and their aide last March 13 in Baguio City. Human rights activists also blamed the military for the abduction and killing of choreographer and activist Marlon Maldos last Tuesday, March 17, in De la Paz, Cortes in Bohol province.

Sison said that despite all the above, the NDFP continues to hope that Duterte orders the GRP negotiating panel come to clear terms with its counterpart “for the benefit of the people.”

“Promises of Duterte, such as doing a good turn from a good heart, can be believed only as they are realized promptly and according to a definite schedule,” he said.

*****

“Now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views.”

By MENCHANI TILENDO
Bulatlat.com
March 26, 2020

MANILA — United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has urged governments to take immediate actions to prevent COVID-19 devastating the health of people in detention and other closed facilities, as part of the global efforts to contain the pandemic.

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that there are already 414,179 COVID-19 cases and 18,440 COVID-related deaths globally in the last 24 hours. Included in these numbers, according to Bachelet, are those belonging to the most vulnerable populations such as strike prisons, jails and immigration detentions centers.

“In many countries, detention facilities are overcrowded, in some cases dangerously so. People are often held in unhygienic conditions and health services are inadequate or even non-existent. Physical distancing and self-isolation in such conditions are practically impossible,” Bachelet said in a statement released yesterday.

“Governments are facing huge demands on resources in this crisis and are having to take difficult decisions. But I urge them not to forget those behind bars, or those confined in places such as closed mental health facilities, nursing homes and orphanages, because the consequences of neglecting them are potentially catastrophic,” the High Commissioner said.

According to Bachelet, authorities should examine ways to release those particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, among them older detainees and those who are sick, as well as low-risk offenders. They should also continue to provide for the specific health-care requirements of women prisoners, including those who are pregnant, as well as those of inmates with disabilities and of juvenile detainees.

“Now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views,” Bachelet stressed.

This sentiment is echoed by KAPATID, a support group of families and friends of political prisoners in the Philippines. In a statement, KAPATID has reported that a political prisoner at the Metro Manila District Jail-Annex 4 in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig Cty has fallen ill with fever.

“We urgently appeal to the Philippine government to promptly heed the call of the United Nations which other countries like Iran and the US have already started to do to save as many lives as humanely possible from the uncontrollable spread of Covid-19”, KAPATID Spokesperson Fides Lim said.

The group presses the immediate release of the elderly, the sick and the pregnant who are most at risk; those with low-level offenses; those already due for parole; those due for release which was interrupted by quarantine regulations; and the wife in the case of political prisoner couples to allow one spouse to care for the other in prison. They also call on prison authorities in the Philippines to start mass testing for Covid-19, to put up quarantine areas, and upgrade medical aid for the most vulnerable prisoners.

“Prisons are porous. No lockdowns, No reassurances of government officials that prisons are “100% safe” and that the prisoners are “safer” under their care will prevent the deadly virus from unleashing a pandemic inside jails. Stop dreaming. Do your job. Save lives”, Lim ended.

*******

By Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
March 24, 2020

As Chief Political Consultant, I am advising the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to recommend to its principal, the NDFP National Council, the issuance of a unilateral ceasefire declaration by the Communist Party of the Philippines to the New People’s Army in order to respond to the call of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres for a global ceasefire between warring parties for the common purpose of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NDFP and the broad masses of the people themselves need to refrain from launching tactical offensives to gain more time and opportunity to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and to look after the health and over-all welfare of the people in both urban and rural areas. The world must know that long before the belated quarantine declarations and repressive measures of the GRP, the NDFP and the revolutionary forces have been informing, training and mobilizing the people on how to fight the pandemic.

While the New People’s Army can cease and desist from launching tactical offensives against the military, police and paramilitary forces of the GRP, it must be vigilant and be ready to act in self-defense against any tactical offensive launched by any enemy force against the people and revolutionary forces in the guerrilla fronts of the people’s democratic government.

Said enemy forces have persisted in launching tactical offensives and bombing of communities in the countryside as well as campaigns of red tagging, abductions and murder in the urban areas. It is therefore understandable why the NDFP has desisted from reciprocating the false unilateral ceasefire declared by the GRP last March 15, 2020.

The NDFP has also refused to reciprocate the bogus unilateral ceasefire declaration of the GRP in order to avoid appearing as directly condoning and becoming complicit in the criminal culpabilities of the Duterte regime for allowing the Covid-19 to spread nationwide since January, for making no preparations against the pandemic and for making lockdowns on communities and yet failing to provide mass testing and treatment of the sick, food assistance and compensation for those prevented from work.

Most recently the tyrant Duterte has used the pandemic as an excuse for grabbing unnecessary emergency powers and huge amounts of public money to carry out repressive measures and feed bureaucratic and military corruption. While committed to their unilateral ceasefire declaration, the NPA and revolutionary forces can remain vigilant and militant in arousing, organizing and mobilizing the people not only against the Covid-19 pandemic and the far deadlier Duterte virus of tyranny and corruption.###

On the occasion of the recent gathering of ecumenical advocates, Rey Claro Casambre, who has been for one dark year in prison based on trumped up charges, has sent his message following below addressed to the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform.

Message to the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform
OUR RESPONSE TO THESE VERY CHALLENGING TIMES
Rey Claro Casambre
Philippine Peace Center
December 4, 2019

Magandang umaga/hapon po sa inyong lahat!
Thank you for giving me this privilege – and honor – of joining you in this important gathering, and contributing to it, in absentia. You cannot imagine how much I wish I could be physically present.

Before I proceed to my assignment, I would like to seize this opportunity to thank all of you — the Churches, institutions, offices, formations, organizations and individuals — I hope I didn’t miss anybody — for the prompt, strong and continuing support you gave me and Cora since our arrest almost exactly a year ago and through my continuing detention. Thank you also for the support you have extended to all political prisoners and all victims of injustice.

Indeed these are very challenging times, especially for us who value and yearn for peace. Not only for a halt to the gunfire. Not only for the “peace of a cemetery”. When we first gathered in Bacolod twelve years ago in July 2007, we had varied views on how to work for peace, but what bound us together then and even stronger now is that we all wanted a just and lasting peace. This could only come about by working on a consensus and implementing basic reforms that would transform Philippine society into a truly free, democratic and just society.
Those were very challenging times as well. The peace negotiations were stalled; there had been no formal talks since June 2004. Instead, the past three years (2004-2007) were marked by a gruesome, bloody surge in extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances , massacres, illegal arrests and detention and other gross human rights violations against unarmed, aboveground progressives and mass leaders and activists. These were perpetrated with impunity by state security forces in accordance with the National Internal Security Plans (NISP 2001-2006 & NISP 2007-2010) and the AFP’s corresponding implementing campaigns Oplans Bantay Laya 1 & 2.

Still, we could take off on an optimistic note, seeing “a faint glimmer of hope…amidst the seemingly impermeable darkness and uncertainty that shrouded the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations for the past three years…” (Prospects and Challenges for Genuine Peace, paper for NEPP-PEPP Luzon Workshop, RCC/ PPC, 11 October 2017). The panels had held informal talks in June 2007 to discuss the GRP’s proposal for a limited ceasefire, backtracking from its prior precondition of indefinite ceasefire. The NDFP for its part reiterated its 2005 proposal for a “Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace”.
Our first and coming-out public statement then was an audacious call for the resumption of formal talks on the basis of all prior bilateral agreements and for the roots of the armed conflict to be addressed in order to attain a just and lasting peace.

Three weeks after that first meeting, the faint glimmer of hope was violently extinguished, when the Dutch police, treacherously instigated, aided and abetted by the GRP, arrested Prof. Jose Ma Sison and raided the offices and residences of the NDFP panel members and staff in The Netherlands.

The situation turned from bad to worse. Still, we were neither daunted nor deterred. With faith, hope and an incorrigible optimism that would become our mark, we persisted in accompanying and actively participating in the peace process, spread our message nationwide, engaged the panels and brought them to the people; and vise-versa.

The rest, as they say, is history. PEPP’s contribution to the peace process is well-acknowledged by the Parties, though perhaps with varying degrees and quality of appreciation. Now we find ourselves again in “very challenging times”. Is this deja vu? If so, then we would know at once and with confidence what must be done and how.

Unfortunately, the situation now is qualitatively worse than it was twelve years ago. The peace negotiations are not only stalled, they have been unilaterally terminated by the Duterte regime several times over. Proclamation 360 (declaring the termination) and 374 (declaring the CPP & NPA terrorist organizations) are unprecedented obstacles to the resumption of negotiations. So does the continuing martial law in Mindanao and MO 32 declaring state of emergency in Negros, Bicol and Samar. We are all too aware of the killings, disappearances, arrests & detention and other grave HR violations these have spurred especially since EO 70 created the NTF-ELCAC and institutionalized the so-called “whole of nation approach”.

But for us peace advocates the primary significance of EO 70/NTF-ELCAC is its having abandoned the peace negotiations on the national level with finality, purportedly substituting in its place local peace talks, later sliding away further to “local peace engagements” (since not a single local NPA command had heeded the NTF’s call for local peace talks). Junking national-level peace negotiations in effect slammed the door to any possibility of discussing and agreeing on basic social, economic, political & constitutional reforms to attain a just and lasting peace — exactly what I understand you to mean by “transformative peace”. In its place, the Duterte regime through the NTF-ELCAC is attempting to rally the entire nation—the whole government plus the private sector—to work for an “inclusive and sustainable peace” by improving on the delivery of basic services in contested areas, good governance, and a broad information campaign, while persuading the “rebels” and their supporters to lay down their arms and return to a productive and peaceful life. It is the proverbial band-aid solution to a chronic & systemic disease. Those who resist incorrigibly will be isolated, exposed as communist terrorists or supporters obstructing the nation’s march to peace, and shall be dealt with accordingly. The PEPP and our Churches have not been spared from these ridiculous accusations and vicious attacks.

If this looks and feels like deja vu, it is because EO 70 and the whole of nation approach is proudly described by its proponents as an “enhanced version” of the 2007 NISP and Oplan Bantay-Laya 2.

There is reason to believe that the NTF-ELCAC itself knows that its purported “new paradigm” and “whole of nation approach” will not achieve its ambitious declared objective of ending the armed conflict by 2022. To date it has neither produced nor issued the “National Peace Framework” it was tasked to formulate on or before June 4, 2019, for the benefit of the whole nation it supposedly aims to rally and mobilize. It admits that its declared programs are grounded on the assumption that government is efficient and corruption-free. From the outset, it has resorted instead to arm twisting, deceit, red tagging and communist branding as prelude to attacks on unarmed, aboveground activists, and fabricating fake surrenderees to conjure and project an illusion of achievements and gains.

Why then does the Duterte regime persist in this charade? The underlying and paramount goal is to preserve the status quo at all cost. No land reform that would threaten the power and privilege of the landlords. No national industrialization that would break the monopoly and dominance of foreign capital. No political reforms that would prevent warlordism and dissolve the dynasties. No social reforms that would protect the rights and uphold the welfare of the toiling masses, indigenous peoples and other disadvantaged social groups. No constitutional and economic reforms to protect our natural resources and patrimony from plunder. And so on.

Indeed the PEPP and our Churches now face very challenging times, very similar but qualitatively different from the situation and challenges we faced in 2007. It requires a qualitatively different response.

In the past, you have often heard me say each time peace negotiations are stalled, “it only means we have to work harder to build a broader peace constituency and push for the resumption of formal talks.”

We must now think of how we can contribute to removing the obstacles to resuming peace negotiations that would lead to a transformative peace, such as EO 70, MO 32 and Proclamations 360 and 374, to name only the most crucial ones.

We must assert that our staunch and unremitting struggle along with other sectors to realize a free, just and peaceful society is not only legitimate, it is an imperative that arises out of our faith. We must remain unfazed and resist all attempts to brand us as terrorists and coerce us into silence and submission.
It is no longer enough to be a mere peace advocate, however each one of us understands and lives out the title. To meet the challenge of working for transformative peace, we must now transform the PEPP and our Churches to become peace activists. Activism is not a crime. Activism is not terrorism. Activism is our way of working for transformative peace. Activism is our response to these very challenging times.

#FreeReyCasambre
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners
#UniteForJustPeace

By Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
11 January 2020

Despite the over-all nationwide success of the reciprocal unilateral ceasefire agreement which occurred from December 23, 2019 to January 7, 2020, the Duterte regime has issued public statements that continue to terminate and prevent peace negotiations and render impossible the resumption of these between the duly-authorized panels of the GRP and NDFP.

Duterte has allowed his highest military statements to publicly oppose the resumption of peace negotiations. He denies the existence of the people’s democratic government and its territory in the guerrilla fronts if only to stress that he condones the violations of the recent ceasefire agreement by his armed minions and that he will continue his all-out war against the armed revolutionary movement of the people.

His highest military subordinates (Esperon, Lorenzana, Año, Galvez and Santos) have made utterances that they oppose the peace negotiations between the duly authorized representatives of the GRP and the NDFP and that they would rather continue the militarization and fascisation of the government and society under Executive Order No. 70.

They say that peace negotiations are not needed because they are already in the process of destroying the NPA before 2022. They boast that they are open only to surrender negotiations in a Philippine venue under their control. They claim to be satisfied with the psywar campaign of fake surrenders, fake encounters and persona nongrata declarations.

They also assert that the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system does not need any economic, social and political reforms to address the roots of the civil war and in any case the NDFP should not be allowed to share any credit for the adoption and implementation of any reform as a result of peace negotiations.

The Filipino people are supposed to be already living in an industrialized paradise without social injustices, massive unemployment, low incomes and rampant poverty. The treasonous, tyrannical, mass murdering, corrupt and mendacious Duterte regime is supposed to be solving all problems and rendering unnecessary peace negotiations.

In fact the ever worsening crisis of the domestic ruling system and that of the world capitalist system and the escalating conditions of oppression and exploitation are exceedingly favorable for the perseverance and further strengthening of the armed revolutionary movement of the Filipino people in their new democratic revolution for national and social liberation.

The Duterte regime is practically telling the oppressed and exploited masses of the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces (the NDFP, the CPP, the NPA and the local organs of political power ) that peace negotiations are impossible until the end of the regime and that they better be prepared for strategic defensive and tactical offensives against bigger onslaughts by their enemy.

The Filipino people’s armed revolutionary movement has rich experience and has accumulated victories in the course of overcoming the military campaigns of enemy regimes from Marcos to Duterte, including more than three years of the current regime. They can very well take advantage of the worsening crisis of the ruling system and the raging desire of the people for revolutionary change. They have gained strength by pursuing the new democratic revolution through protracted people’s war.###

Government, NDFP peace negotiators have agreed to recommend a nationwide ceasefire from Dec. 23, 2019 to Jan. 7, 2020

By Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
December 9, 2019

I welcome President Duterte’s publicly expressed desire to resume the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations and his instruction to Secretary Bello to visit me and consult with me in Utrecht in this regard. I am pleased that President Duterte has also acknowledged that he is “running out of time” and that he is determined to achieve peace before the end of his term.

It is timely for the GRP and NDFP to celebrate with the Filipino people the season of Christmas and the New Year and to create the favorable atmosphere for peace negotiations by undertaking such goodwill measures as reciprocal unilateral ceasefires and the release of political prisoners who are elderly and sickly on humanitarian grounds, especially those who shall participate in the peace negotiations.

In my view, the peace negotiations can be resumed in a formal meeting to issue the declaration to reaffirm the agreements that have been forged since 1992, to overcome the presidential issuances and other obstacles that have prevented peace negotiations since 2017 and to set the agenda and schedule for these negotiations and to fullfill political, legal and security requirements.

The GRP and NDFP negotiating panels can pursue further negotiations on the Interim Peace Agreement, with its three components pertaining to coordinated unilateral ceasefires, general amnesty and release of all political prisoners and the sections of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and National Industrialization and Economic Development.

All the remaining sections of the CASER can be negotiated, completed and mutually approved by the GRP and NDFP in a relatively short period of time. Thereafter, the Comprehensive Agreements on Political and Constitutional Reforms and the End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces shall be negotiated, completed and mutually approved. ###