GRP says NDF is the one scuttling peace talks
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MANILA, Sept. 19 – The government today put entirely the blame on the National Democratic Front (NDF) for
scuttling the resumption of formal negotiations after demanding new preconditions just as the talks were
about to start.
“It is ironic that the NDF is again putting the blame on Government and maliciously
accusing it of ending the peace negotiations, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Avelino I. Razon Jr.
said in a press statement.
Razon refuted point-by-point the allegation of Jose Ma. Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP), who has been in self-exile in The Netherlands the past 23 years.
Peace talks between the government and the NDF were scheduled to reopen in Oslo, Norway last Aug. 28, but
the NDF issued an eleventh hour demands such as dropping of criminal charges against 12 rebel
“consultants” who are facing charges from multiple murder to kidnapping.
Razon said the GRP peace panel headed by former Labor Secretary Nieves Confessor was taken aback by
the NDF new demands even after the government has bended backwards granting the request of the NDF to
release two of its consultants Randall Echanis and Elizabeth Principe.
But the NDF again demanded the release of 10 more New People’s Army (NPA) rebels from detention and the
dropping of the corresponding criminal charges filed against them when the NDF panel was about to depart
for Oslo for the formal talks under a third party facilitator – the Norwegian government.
“Their (NDF) recent three-point proposal clearly manifested their ill motive of just extorting concessions from
the ‘peace table’ which they cannot get through the courts,” Razon said.
They (CPP/NDF/NPA) continue to impose an unreasonable demand that the Government release their ten
more alleged consultants who are facing criminal charges in various courts, before they will to back to the
peace table. This persistent precondition serves as an ‘immovable’ block that prevents the reopening of the
formal peace negotiations,” Razon said.
It may be recalled that in 2005, the NDF also pulled out unilaterally from the peace talks after the United States
and the European Union (EU) tagged the NPA as a foreign terrorist organization.
But during the lull of negotiations, the government continued its back-channeling efforts to push the peace
process forward, Razon said.
Razon lamented that just as the peace talks were about to start, the NDF imposed preconditions.
As we have clarified in our past statements, the Government has fulfilled its commitment to reinstate the Joint
Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which took effect on 17 July 2009, to pave the way for
the resumption of the formal peace negotiations.”
“With this, the NDF’s consultants are free to travel to Oslo, without any impediments, and this the GRP has
repeatedly guaranteed. The NDF’s insistence of other preconditions to accompany the JASIG implementation
is its way of getting out of its commitment to go back to the peace table,” Razon stressed.
He said the government has already released Priincipe and Echanis for them to participate in the Oslo talks.
“As a matter of fact, Principe and Echanis were already issued passports ready to depart for Oslo since last
month,” Razon said.
Two other top rebel leaders, Rafael Baylosis and Vicente Ladlad are still in hiding and have refused to come
out despite the lifting of the JASIG, an assurance that they would not be arrested, he said.
“Baylosis and Ladlad have, on their own, refused to come out of hiding even with the assurances of protection
under the JASIG. Regarding the 8 (now 10,!) others, this should not mean the withdrawal of any of the charges
against them. For to demand the dismissal of their cases is to ask the GRP to subvert its judicial system as
well as the interests of the victims of such crimes,” Razon said.
Razon said: “The NDF claims that the Government has been violating the signed agreements. On the contrary,
the NDF’s unreasonable demand that the charges be withdrawn so that their people can be released from
detention is a clear violation of the JASIG which only provides for the suspension of court proceedings. The
Government never agreed to the dismissal of the charges, as falsely claimed by the NDF, as this will require it
to unravel its legal and judicial processes.”
“As we have stated, the latest NDF proposal for a POSSIBLE working group to discuss end of hostilities falls
short of an earlier agreement, which was affirmed by the Norwegian Third Party Facilitator, to begin
discussions of an ‘end state,’ an aspiration that peace is at hand,” he added.
“We refute the NDF’s claim that ‘the Government is preventing negotiations on social, economic and political
reforms and imposing the end of hostilities.’ The Government will thoroughly engage the NDF on discussions
on social, economic and political reforms. However, the NDF must commit to end of hostilities happening
soon, not ten years after. The matter of reform is an on-going process. It does not start with the peace
agreement. The final peace agreement must help accelerate it. Our people should have nothing less.
“We reiterate that the Government’s efforts, through the Executive Secretary and OPAPP, were directed to
scuttle the “impediments” that block the release of the NDF consultants and NOT THE RESUMPTION OF THE
TALKS . Not only have the four primary NDF consultants been afforded their release to join the talks, the
demand regarding the disappearances of Velasco, etc. has already been referred to the Commission on
Human Rights for serious investigation; and the “bounty” rewards on the heads of Sison and Rosal have also
been suspended.
“It can be gleaned from the above clarifications that it is the NDF, NOT THE GOVERNMENT, that is preventing
the resumption of the formal peace negotiations and imposing unreasonable demands that violate the signed
agreements,” Razon said.
Despite this new setback of the peace talks with the CPP/NPA/NDF, Razon assured that “the Government
remains committed and ready to pursue the peace negotiations in accordance with truth, justice and the rule
of law.”
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