NDF proposes deferment of peace talks until jailed rebels are freed

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – The chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front proposed on Thursday the postponement of the scheduled resumption this month of formal peace talks between the government and the communist rebels until imprisoned rebels have been released from jail.

Luis Jalandoni, NDF chief negotiator, proposed to lawyer Alex Padilla, head of the government peace panel, in a letter dated June 2, that the talks be postponed “until such time that the releases of NDFP consultants and JASIG [Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee]-protected [persons] are carried out in compliance with the JASIG.”

Jalandoni said that the freedom of his jailed comrades was “first and foremost an obligation in accordance with the JASIG and not only a goodwill and confidence building measure.”

The JASIG, signed in 1995 by the government and communist peace panels, guarantees immunity from arrest to NDF members, consultants and staff who are part of the negotiating team.

Under the JASIG, a holder of a safe-conduct pass should not engage in criminal activities such as terrorism and extortion or hostile acts against the government for the duration of its effectivity.

Jalandoni complained that despite their May 27 letter reiterating a request that the government release 17 jailed rebels who he claims were covered by JASIG, the Aquino administration has yet to release anyone of them.

“As stated in that letter, up to now, more than four months after the Joint Communique of 18 January, not a single one of the seventeen detained NDFP consultants and JASIG-protected persons has been released,” Jalandoni said in a letter to Padilla, a copy of which was received by the Philippine Daily Inquirer through email from Utrecht, The Netherlands, where some of the communist leaders are based.

According to Jalandoni, Fidel Agcaoili, NDFP peace panel vice chair, has just returned from Manila, where Padilla and Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process asked him to stay until June 1 because of the assurance that the government would announce the release of jailed rebel consultants.

“We are deeply disappointed that no such announcement has been made by the GPH,” he said.

Jalandoni cited the case of Allan Jazmines and Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara.

He expressed concern that Jazmines “was being threatened with imminent forcible transfer” from Camp Crame to the Bicutan jail. The NDF leader said Jazmines was a member of their Reciprocal Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms.

“There is no indication that our urgent call for his [Jazmines] release so that he can fulfill his functions for the SER negotiation is to be heeded by the GPH [Government of the Republic of the Philippines],” Jalandoni said.

He added: “Moreover, NDFP Consultant Tirso Alcantara continues to be shackled to his bed, a very inhumane condition.”

Jazmines was captured in February in Baliuag, Bulacan. According to the military, Jazmines is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

A day after the 19-day Christmas truce ended, soldiers and policemen in Lucena City also captured Alcantara, identified by the military as chief of the NPA rebels in Southern Tagalog and a member of the CPP-Central Committee.

Last week, Jalandoni warned that the continuing failure of the Aquino government to stand by its commitment for the immediate release of jailed rebel consultants in compliance with the JASIG “seriously prejudices” the advance of peace talks on social and economic reforms and political and constitutional reforms.