‘Not releasing inmates may adversely affect peace talks’

Renato Reyes Jr. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Failure to release political prisoners may have a negative impact on the upcoming peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr. said Friday.

The Supreme Court (SC) in a recent resolution denied the request of the government for the temporary release of all 11 NDF leaders to attend the formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway in the last week of August.

READ: SC junks bid for release of NDF heads invited in Oslo talks

Only former party-list Representative Satur Ocampo and NDF consultants Randall B. Echanis and Vicente Ladlad were given the go signal to attend the talks.

The high court, however, imposed conditions on Echanis and Ladlad. The two are actively participating in the peace talks.

READ: Bayan: Not one political prisoner released, what now?

Ocampo, Echanis, Ladlad and Rafael Baylosis are facing murder charges following the discovery of a mass grave in Leyte containing remains of those believed to be victims of “Operation Venereal Disease” to purge the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army of suspected military informers. The case is currently being heard before the Regional Trial Court of Manila, Branch 32. They are already out on bail since 2007.

“The Supreme Court merely confirmed this fact,” Reyes said adding that in truth, not one political prisoner has been released.

The high court denied the request for the provisional liberty of the other consultants saying they have no jurisdiction over them. The SC said various regional trial courts (RTCs) hearing their cases have the jurisdiction, therefore, motion for their provisional release should be filed before them.

“The filing, hearing and resolutions of motions for the temporary release of the NDFP consultants before the different RTCs will take time. Many NDFP consultants face multiple false charges in several courts. This is the result of the legal offensives of the Arroyo and Aquino regimes. False  non-bailable charges are filed against NDFP consultant to ensure that they remain in jail indefinitely,” Reyes said.

On the other hand, Atty. Edre U. Olalia, legal consultant of the NDFP Panel expressed apprehension on the conditions set by the high court for Echanis and Ladlad.

He said it “may impact on their free and unhindered participation in the peace negotiations.”

While the high court denied the motion of the release of the other consultants, Olalia said “still we welcome the Court’s Resolution in general as a clear guidepost or signal and significant impetus for the latter’s possible eventual release.”

“We still hope the releases will be expedited despite the delays and that the process be made simpler. We remain optimistic that the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and all its agencies and concerned officials will do everything to comply in good faith with its commitments to release the detained NDFP peace consultants so that they can timely participate in the formal peace negotiations starting August 20 in Oslo,” he added.

There are still 20 NDF consultants detained in various courts facing criminal charges

At the same time, both Reyes and Olalia reiterated the call for the release of political prisoners facing trumped-up charges in various courts nationwide.

The previous administration denied the existence of political prisoners.

But human rights group Karapatan, said that as of March 2016, there are 543 political prisoners detained on false criminal charges. Of the 543, 18 are NDFP peace consultants, whose protection under the GPH (Government of the Philippines)-NDFP agreement on safety and immunity guarantees has been violated.

There are also 88 ailing and 48 elderly among the political prisoners, mostly poor peasants fighting for their land rights. RAM/rga