DAVAO CITY, Philippines -- One of the top ranking leaders of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) challenged President Benigno Aquino III to follow the example of his mother and set all political prisoners free.
?Releasing all political prisoners as President Benigno Aquino's mother did would be a powerful goodwill gesture to show his seriousness in resuming peace talks,? Luis Jalandoni, the chairman of the NDFP negotiating panel, said in an e-mailed interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
He said the government should honor the agreements signed in the previous talks with the NDF, which included the Comprehensive Agreement for Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). CARHRIHL requires the release of political prisoners and the indemnification of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime.
?(Benigno Aquino III) ought to respond promptly and positively to the CARHRIHL since his late mother, Corazon Aquino, upon assuming power, released all political prisoners, and his late father, Benigno Aquino, Jr. was a political prisoner,? Jalandoni said.
Even former President Fidel Ramos also released more than 200 political prisoners in September 1992, Jalandoni said.
Although the rebel group did not set preconditions for the resumption of peace talks with the government, the Aquino administration would remove a major stumbling block if it could take effective steps to take away the Communist-led rebel group off the terror list of the US government, he said.
?We have no preconditions for resuming formal peace talks,? Jalandoni said. ?We demand respect for and compliance with the agreements already signed. These are not conditions but obligations incurred through the agreements forged by both parties.?
Presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said the new administration of President Aquino has started opening the avenues for a possible resumption of talks between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-NDFP-New People?s Army.
Talks broke down in 2004 after the NDFP protested over its inclusion in the terrorist list of the governments of US and Europe.
Jalandoni said it was the Arroyo administration who actually campaigned for the inclusion of the NDFP in the terror listing.
He said the Arroyo government had also sent a delegation led by former Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople to go around Europe, urging governments to put the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People?s Army and NDFP chief political consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison on the EU?s terror list.
?The Arroyo regime also applauded the US and EU?s unjust terrorist listing and refused to join the NDFP in asserting the national sovereignty of the Filipino people and their inalienable right to judge on the internal affairs and situation in the Philippines,? Jalandoni said.
?The Arroyo regime was responsible for requesting the US to blacklist the CPP, NPA and Sison,? Jalandoni said. ?It reiterated this request in August 2002.?
He said the Aquino administration should ?undertake effective steps? to take away this terrorist tag.
?It (the Aquino administration) should welcome and take its cue from the European Court decision of September 30, 2009, declaring the terrorist listing of Prof. Sison as unjust and illegal and ordering this being taken off the EU terrorist list,? he said.
