On the GRP-NDFP Talks:
Clearing the Humps

Peace talks between the government and the NDFP have been on “postponement” with the latter accusing the former of not doing enough to resolve the outstanding issue of “terrorist list.” If the GRP fails to fulfill its obligations in consonance with the Oslo Joint Statements, the NDFP says, the current postponement could lead to a suspension or worse, the termination of the peace negotiations.

By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat

Peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) crawled a little forward in 2004, with two agreements signed in the first quarter. The two agreements, Oslo Joint Statement I and Oslo Joint Statement II – the last two of 12 bilateral agreements forged since 1992 - were not enough however to clear the major humps that remain unsolved in the peace process.

At press time, the talks remain on “official postponement” with the NDFP demanding that the GRP comply with its obligations under the previous agreements, foremost of which is the removal of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and the NDFP’s chief political consultant from the “terrorist list.”

As far as the NDFP is concerned, the Arroyo administration must show sincerity in implementing its commitments to the 12 agreements. But the GRP insists on the capitulation of the NDFP – a hardline stance that has been an outstanding obstacle since talks between the two sides began in 1986.

When the peace talks resumed in 1992, the NDFP’s leading components – the CPP and NPA – were wracked by factionalism chiefly fomented by forces wanting to wade the revolutionary struggle to either adventurism or capitulationism. Today, these factions – tagged as “counterrevolutionary” – have since been marginalized or neutralized and the NDFP’s forces fully recovered, with the NPA – according to a CPP statement on Dec. 26 - now operating in 128 guerrilla fronts, in nearly 70 of 74 provinces, more than 800 of the 1,500 municipalities and more than 22 percent of the total number of barangays (villages) nationwide. 

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is itself torn between dismissing the armed Left as a “spent force” or being alarmed as the country’s “top security threat.” Yet it also continues to mobilize most of its armed strength against the NPA and is now harnessing the military aid and training it receives from the United States against the guerrillas in the name of “anti-terrorism.”

Creeping crisis

How the AFP can sustain its military offensive against the NPA given the creeping crisis that saps its strength – top-level corruption, continuing signs of rebelliousness and coup threats – remains a problem, however. The civilian bureaucracy that’s supposed to command it is itself debilitated by a financial crisis, corruption, low public credibility and other problems that are endemic to what the militant Left describe as a neo-colonial and semi-feudal system in its terminal crisis.

The problems that beset the GRP are patent in its own panel. No recent talks with the NDFP have been held without the GRP panel itself showing a cleavage between one side appearing to be moderate and another, composed of “clerico-fascists” and militarists, visibly combative and hard line. They face a panel that is as rock-solid in the negotiating table as it is in the field of war.

Following nearly three years of recess and suspension, two rounds of formal peace talks between the GRP and NDFP resumed in Oslo, Norway on Feb. 10-14 and March 30-April 2 this year, facilitated by the Norwegian government. Two agreements were signed by the two panels, headed by Silvestre Bello III for the GRP and Luis Jalandoni for the NDFP. In the Oslo Joint Statements I and II both panels reaffirmed The Hague Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International and International Humanitarian Law (Carhrihl) and seven other bilateral agreements as the “framework and foundation” of the talks.

The Bello panel also agreed to the demand by the NDFP that it will undertake effective measures to resolve the issue of the “terrorist” listing of the CPP-NPA and Jose Maria Sison, the NDFP’s chief political consultant, in consonance with the 10 bilateral agreements.

Both parties also agreed to form and operationalize the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) and its Joint Secretariat, as part of implementing Carhrihl. They also agreed to prepare for the second talking point of the peace talks agenda by reconvening the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RCWs on SER) leading to the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

The GRP agreed to free political prisoners whose release papers have been signed in 2001; to review cases of women, children, sick and elderly political detainees, and the more than 300 cases of prisoners charged, detained or convicted of common crimes contrary to the Hernandez Doctrine against the criminalization of political offenses.

Indemnification

The Oslo agreements also called for the indemnification of victims of human rights violations under the Marcos martial law regime: the segregation of US$150 million or at least PhP8 billion from the recovered Marcos ill-gotten wealth to compensate such victims; and for the GRP to exert its utmost initiative to obtain passage of an administration bill for the compensation of martial law victims of human rights violations.

The third round of talks had to be moved to June 20-24 on account of the May presidential elections. The fourth round was never held as scheduled in July with the two sides agreeing to move it on Aug. 24-30. This one never took place either following an announcement by the U.S. government on Aug. 9 retaining the CPP-NPA in its list of “foreign terrorist organizations” (FTOs).

Reacting, the NDFP accused the GRP of not doing enough to resolve the issue on the “terrorist list.” The GRP had earlier insisted that it cannot force the U.S. and other foreign governments to withdraw what the former believed was their sovereign right to construct their own “terrorist” lists.

In an email interview with Bulatlat last week, Jalandoni said the NDFP declared a postponement of the formal peace talks "in order to give more time to the GRP to comply with its obligations in accordance with the Oslo Joint Statements.”  Aside from the effective measures regarding the “terrorist list,” he reiterated the other main points of the Oslo agreements that the Arroyo government has not complied with including the release of political prisoners and the indemnification of the Marcos human rights victims.

“On the issue of ‘terrorist’ listing,” Jalandoni said from Utrecht, “the NDFP demands at the very minimum that the GRP stand with the Filipino people and the NDFP to assert the national sovereignty of the Filipino people, to declare that the ‘terrorist’ listing of the CPP, NPA and Professor Sison is a usurpation of jurisdiction and infringement of the inherent right and competence of the Filipino people to judge the Philippine situation, events and circumstances.”

Assassination

On Dec. 20, Jalandoni also accused the Arroyo government along with the U.S. and other foreign governments of using the “terrorist listing” to threaten the NDFP’s Europe-based panelists and consultants and especially Sison with assassination.

Most recently, the GRP apparently set a precondition for resuming the talks – a prolonged and indefinite ceasefire. This precondition, the NDFP chief negotiator countered, “is tantamount to capitulation in violation of The Hague Joint Declaration which stipulates the principle of non-capitulation, and sabotages the resumption of formal peace talks.”

“The latest precondition and demand of the GRP for capitulation in the guise of an indefinite ceasefire proves that the Arroyo government is not sincere in pursuing peace negotiations which address the roots of the civil war,” Jalandoni said. “It is only aiming for the capitulation and destruction of the revolutionary movement.”

Instead of releasing political prisoners and implementing Carhrihl particularly on the rights of combatants, the Arroyo administration has “escalated its state terrorism,” Jalandoni added. He cited the Nov. 16 massacre at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, where seven striking farm workers were killed by government forces and the false accusation against the NPA as the “worst human rights violator” and being responsible for “illegal logging.”

In an earlier statement, the NDFP said that if the GRP fails to fulfill its obligations in consonance with the Oslo Joint Statements, the current postponement could lead to a suspension or worse, the termination of the peace negotiations.

Jalandoni clarified however that the NDFP is for the resumption of the formal talks but this should be based, he said, on the 10 bilateral agreements and the GRP’s compliance with Oslo I and II. If these agreements are “substantially carried out,” he said, “then there is a good chance to reach an agreement on Social and Economic Reforms.”

An agreement on social and economic reforms will be followed by discussions on political reforms and finally, on the disposition of forces.

Human rights monitoring

On a positive note, the implementation of Carhrihl moved a step ahead with the formation of the JMC and its Joint Secretariat with offices inaugurated on June 4 in Cubao, Quezon City. The JMC’s function is limited to monitoring and investigating human rights violations committed by both government and NPA forces. As of August, 101 complaints involving 3,133 cases of human rights violations have been filed – all against the GRP. Most of the cases involved illegal arrests, summary executions, massacres and forced disappearances committed allegedly by military and police forces.

Reports indicated however that the JMC, headed jointly by GRP’s Carlos Medina, a lawyer, and NDFP’s Fidel Agcaoili, has yet to meet formally to discuss the charges and on what manner these will be pursued.

Peace talks between the two sides began in 1986 or months after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship. The talks collapsed following the Mendiola Massacre where during a rally 19 peasants were killed by government forces guarding Malacańang presidential palace. There were also threats of assassination against the first NDFP peace panel headed by Satur Ocampo (now a party-list representative), Bobbie Malay and Antonio Zumel, who died two years ago. Thereafter President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, heir to the infamous Hacienda Luisita, unleashed a “total war” against the NDFP.

Talks resumed in 1992 under President Fidel V. Ramos leading to the signing of major bilateral agreements between the two sides. The talks were scuttled during the Estrada presidency although the latter tried to negotiate out of desperation when it was threatened by a second people uprising.

After nearly two years of suspension, back-channel talks with President Macapagal-Arroyo resumed last year followed by formal talks early this year.

The CPP has been waging a people’s war for 36 years with a socialist perspective. Bulatlat

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