Luis Jalandoni, peace negotiator of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). (AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS)
BAGUIO CITY—The burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani may affect the Duterte administration’s peace negotiation with communist rebels, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) adviser Luis Jalandoni said on Friday.
Jalandoni also criticized President Duterte for being “insensitive” to martial law victims when he allowed the burial of Marcos at the heroes’ cemetery.
Addressing a peace forum at City Hall here, Jalandoni said Mr. Duterte must study the impact of the burial, which, he noted, violated the agreement between the government and the NDFP to respect human rights and international law.
He said the Duterte administration had “shown insensitivity to the feelings and positions of the many thousands of victims [by] not taking into consideration the decision of the people who ousted Marcos [in 1986].”
“The Duterte administration and the government peace panel must review the [rights agreement] and understand why they need to support the victims of tyranny,” Jalandoni told the Inquirer later.
Respect for rights
Article 5 of the rights deal states: “The parties … respect and support the rights of the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime, taking into consideration the final judgment of the United States federal court system in the human rights litigation against Marcos, Senate Resolution No. 1640; Swiss Supreme Court decision of Dec. 10, 1997; and pertinent provisions of the United Nations covenant on civil and political rights, and the 1984 UN convention against torture.”
Article 3 of the agreement states that the government and the NDFP “decry all violations and abuses of human rights.”
The agreement was reaffirmed by the government and the NDFP panels at the resumption of peace talks when Mr. Duterte assumed office in June, Jalandoni said.
“There have been new issues that have come up which have to be taken up by both sides [in the peace talks]. The most recent is the burial of Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani. When it was first taken up, the NDFP position was that since the negotiation for land reform was so important for 80 million people and was the objective of the peace negotiations, the thinking at the time was that the burial of Marcos was really not a big issue,” he said.
Deal violated
“But just a day or two ago, with the mass demonstrations and the portrayal of Marcos as a hero and as a model citizen, who was being given honors [like an] eternal flame … the NDFP position now is that this could affect the peace negotiations because the [heroic] portrayal of the dictator who committed so many crimes on people, is a violation of the [rights agreement],” he said.
Jalandoni said the NDFP would not ask the Duterte administration to apologize.
“That must come from the martial law victims. It’s too early to say what they would want [President Duterte] to do to fix this,” he said.
“We admire the mass demonstrations, especially those mounted by the youth, which say Marcos was not a hero. Presenting him as a hero is an insult to the many thousands of victims and their families,” he said.