Group urges Aquino to release political prisoners from the Left
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Mindanao church leaders and peace advocates have urged the government to release detained members of the Left and the consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) who are covered by the Joint Agreement on the Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) if only to ensure the resumption of the peace negotiations.
The “Sowing the Seeds of Peace,” a multisectoral group, issued the call following the NDFP’s announcement of a possible postponement of peace talks because of the Philippine government’s refusal to comply with a joint statement made in Oslo on February 21.
“The NDFP has announced a possible postponement of the talks pending release of political prisoners which, they say, has not been complied with by the GPH. We see this as an unfortunate development worthy of serious consideration by both sides and of advocates like us who are supporting the peace process,” the group said.
The statement was signed by Catholic Bishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro City, Bishop Felixberto Calang of Iglesia Filipina Independiente, Bishop Melzar Labuntog of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines and Sister Franz Blando of the Sisters’ Association in Mindanao.
Mayor Vicente Emano of Cagayan de Oro City also signed the statement.
Luis Jalandoni, chief of the NDFP peace panel, in a letter dated June 2, said the talks would only resume if the government agreed to release NDFP consultants and other personalities supposedly covered and protected by JASIG.
The letter was addressed to Alexander Padilla, chairman of the government peace panel. The NDFP has claimed that 17 consultants and persons are protected by JASIG for being consultants to the NDFP peace panel, but have been languishing in different jails across the country.
The January 18 Joint Communique signed by members of both panels and witnessed by Ambassador Ture Lundh of the Royal Norwegian Government read: “The GPH Panel agreed to work for the expeditious release of detained NDFP consultants and other JASIG-protected persons in compliance with the JASIG and in the spirit of goodwill.”
“We believe that the spirit and intent of that joint statement calls for continued confidence-building measures to sustain the peace talks. With this in mind, we were thus pleased when peasant rights advocate Angelina Bisuña Ipong, the country’s oldest woman political prisoner, was released on 17 February 2011 as the GPH-NDPF peace talks were being held in Oslo,” the group said.
The Sowing the Seeds for Peace urged President Benigno Aquino III to comply with the agreement.
“We call on President Benigno Aquino III to ensure that the talks are not stalled anew on this account. We hope that the GPH will eventually uphold its civilian authority over voices within the AFP which, at the moment, are opposed to such release. Political authority should be of primordial consideration over tactical concerns of the military establishment. After all, it is incumbent upon any state to release ‘prisoners of conscience’ in adherence to international human rights and humanitarian law,” the group said.
“The same principle applies when NPA prisoners of war are released on humanitarian grounds and as an exercise of the political authority of the NDFP over its armed revolutionary army. On an equal vein, we call on the NDFP as well to release prisoners of war as a way to reciprocate confidence measures which we expect the GPH to adopt in the days ahead,” it added.
The group said the parties should “agree to a definite timeline that will allow the GPH compliance with release of political prisoners.”
“We believe that whenever there is political will from both protagonists in the armed conflict, there is time,” the group said.
