Peace talks with communist rebels is next gov’t move

Buoyed by a breakthrough in the peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Aquino administration on Monday said it was willing to resume talks with communist rebels without “preconditions.”

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters in Malacañang that the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF) should follow in the footsteps of the MILF by restarting peace negotiations, which have not moved under the Aquino administration.

“We would like to believe that it will inspire the CPP-NPA of the sincerity of this government in working toward a peaceful agreement with the rebel groups, and we have seen this with the MILF,” Lacierda said.

But the arrest of a ranking NPA leader last week is likely to come in the way of any effort to restart peace talks between the government and the communist rebels.

On Monday NDF chairman Luis Jalandoni condemned the arrest of Benjamin Mendoza, secretary of the CPP’s Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee and member of its Central Committee.

Mendoza, his wife, Josephine, and two other NPA rebels were arrested by military agents and police in Quezon City early on Saturday.

In an e-mail statement, a copy of which was received by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jalandoni demanded the release of Bautista and his companions.

Jalandoni, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, said Bautista was covered by a joint agreement on safety and immunity guarantees (Jasig) between the government and the NDF and should not have been arrested.

“The Aquino regime’s numerous violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and its refusal to respect and comply with the Jasig are serious obstacles to the resumption of formal peace talks,” Jalandoni said.

Signed by the government and the NDF peace panels in 1995, the Jasig guarantees NDF members, consultants and staff who work with the negotiating team immunity from arrest.

Under the agreement, however, holders 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 the pass’ effectivity.

Lack of seriousness

The military said Mendoza was the brains behind successful NPA raids in the provinces of Mindoro, Batangas and Quezon.

In a separate statement, the CPP said Mendoza’s arrest “underscores the “Aquino regime’s lack of seriousness” in pursuing  peace through negotiations.

But Lacierda said he expected the framework agreement between the government and the MILF to inspire the communist rebels to return to the negotiating table.

The government is open to a ceasefire, he said.

“It’s better that you conduct talks with a ceasefire. But the problem is we have not been moving forward. We’re willing to talk. Let’s talk without any preconditions,” Lacierda said.

The NDF’s demand for the release of captured rebels has stalled the negotiations since February last year.

Lacierda said the CPP leaders were the ones reluctant to resume  negotiations, and they made the release of captured rebels a condition for the resumption of the talks.

“It’s their insistence on the preconditions that make it difficult for us to move forward,” Lacierda said.

“But certainly we would like to hope and believe that if they drop that precondition, then things can move forward,” he said.

Verification

Lacierda said the talks were stalled because of disagreements over the verification of the status of 14 rebels the NDF wanted released.

The floppy disk containing the names of the 14 had been stored in a vault in the Netherlands. A Dutch bishop opened the vault in the presence of government and NDF representatives, and all of them found the file had been corrupted.

Lacierda said the CPP-NPA wanted to provide a new list, but the government refused because it had no assurance that the new list would carry the names of the same people on the original list.

He said the ball was now in the rebels’ court.

“Right now, we’ve not moved on, but certainly we hope that they can. It’s up to them,” Lacierda said.

“It’s their insistence before any talks should continue that certain persons on the Jasig list should be released.  But again that’s our position. From the very start we’ve maintained that there should be no preconditions,” he added.

Jalandoni has asserted that compliance with the Jasig was key to the resumption of the peace negotiations, but the government disagreed.

Oslo accord

A statement from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) said “the key to the resumption of the negotiations is compliance with the terms of the Oslo Joint Statement (OJS)” that the government and the NDF panels signed on Feb. 21, 2011, following the first round of talks.

On the Jasig, the OJS stated that: “Based on the Joint Notes dated January 18, 2011, the [government] shall continue to work on appropriate measures to effect the expeditious release of all or most of the 14 NDF-listed Jasig consultants and personalities before the second round of formal talks.”

The release of the 14 is “subject to verification as provided in a Jasig supplemental agreement dated June 26, 1996, or on the basis of humanitarian and other practical reasons,” the OPAPP statement said.

The NDF added four names (Danilo Badayos, Leopoldo Caloza, Alan Jazmines and Ramon Patriarca) to the list, the OPAPP said.

The OPAPP acknowledged that the Jasig was important, “but we assert more strongly that Jasig compliance requires verification without which the process lacks integrity.” With a report from Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon