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The Arroyo Regime Has Scuttled the Peace Talks
By Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
31 March 2007
Avoiding answering the question whether the Arroyo regime agrees with
the report of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston that the military
is principally responsible for political killings, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto
Romulo makes the false statement that the regime has a standing invitation
to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines for peace talks.
The Arroyo regime has scuttled the peace talks. It has declared its militarist
plan to destroy the revolutionary movement before 2010. It has flagrantly
violated the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) by committing crimes against
humanity, perpetrating extrajudicial killings of more than 830 unarmed civilians,
enforced disappearances on about 200 persons and frustrated killings on more
than 350 persons, among other gross human rights violations.
The Arroyo regime has also charged those involved in the peace negotiations
on the side of the NDFP with rebellion, thereby violating the Joint Agreement
on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Also in flagrant violation of the
JASIG, it has summarily executed Sotero Llamas, Political Consultant of the
NDFP, and caused the involuntary disappearance of NDFP Consultants and
their immediate families and staff, namely, Rogelio Calubad and his son Gabriel;
Prudencio Calubid, his wife Celine Palma and two companions, Leopoldo
Ancheta and Philip Limjoco.
The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 stipulates that national sovereignty is
a guiding principle of the peace negotiations between the Government of
the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of
the Philippines (NDFP). But the Arroyo regime has also trampled on the national
sovereignty of the country by colluding with the US, the European Union and
other foreign governments in the baseless and unjust "terrorist" listing of the
Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army, and the NDFP
Chief Political Consultant Professor Jose Maria Sison.
If the Arroyo regime really wants to resume formal peace talks with the NDFP,
as demanded by so many peace and human rights advocates, it must follow
the urgent demands of the UN, Amnesty International, the US Senate, and
so many other international bodies to immediately stop the extrajudicial killings
and other human rights violations. It must take serious steps to comply with
its obligations according to the CARHRIHL, the JASIG, and international human
rights conventions.
REFERENCE:
Ruth de Leon
Executive Director
NDFP International Information Office
Tel.+31-30-2310431
Fax +31-84-7589930
Email: [email protected]
http://www.ndfp.net
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