Reds to take up Marcos burial in next talks

The chief negotiator for the Philippines’ communist insurgents, Luis Jalandoni. AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS

BACOLOD CITY—National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) adviser Luis Jalandoni on Saturday said the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani violated an agreement on human rights and the NDFP would raise this in the next round of formal negotiations.

The NDFP strongly opposed the burial of Marcos that portrayed him as a hero and model, Jalandoni said during a peace forum in Bacolod City.

He said the human rights agreement between the government and the NDFP says that both parties support the inherent and inalienable right of the people to fight tyranny and oppression just as they did in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship.

He said any move that allows the return of the Marcoses to power, led by the dictator’s namesake, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, must be condemned by the Filipino people.

“The Filipino people will be very strong in their resistance to such an attempt by the Marcos family and also by supporters and anyone in the (previous) regime,” he said.

The appropriate moves to take regarding Marcos’ remains would be tackled during the talks.

In the war on drugs, the NDFP has taken the position that human rights should be respected and ordinary drug users and small time pushers, who actually need rehabilitation, should be given due process, Jalandoni said.

He said the indemnification, reparation and recognition of the rights of the victims of martial law under Marcos are also included in the human rights agreement and there are various ways of doing this.

Jalandoni and his wife, Coni Ledesma, who is part of the NDFP peace panel, are in the country for meetings with the other panel members and the Norwegian facilitator ahead of the third round of talks with government negotiators in Rome next month.

“We have confidence the peace talks will move forward but it will depend a lot on the mass organizations and campaign in support of the people to achieve genuine land reform and national industrialization, as well as the protection of the environment,” he said.

The NDFP is also pushing for national independence and sovereignty. It is seeking the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States in order for the country to exercise an independent foreign policy, he said.

Jalandoni said an independent foreign policy should also upheld in relations with other countries like China and Russia.

“It’s good to have foreign relations with other countries like China and Russia, but we must make sure that we assert and protect our own independence and sovereignty and relationships have to be equal and beneficial to both sides,” he said.

“While we develop fruitful relations with China we have to make sure that we do not give up our sovereign rights to the areas that really belongs to the Philippines in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he added.