This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 7, March 19-25, 2006

NDFP Hits Government’s 'Wanted List'

Calling it the “worst kind of treachery, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiator Luis Jalandoni condemned the Justice Department’s “wanted list”, which included all who were involved in the government’s peace negotiations with the NDF, and covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). 

BY ACE ALEGRE
Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY  –  What used to be “safety passes” are now being used as “warrants” for illegal arrest.

National Democratic Front of the Philippines Chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni condemned the Justice Department’s “wanted list” which included all who were involved in the government’s peace negotiations with the NDF, and covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). 

Among those charged with rebellion and included in the list were NDFP negotiators, consultants, staffers, and even non-NDFP personnel who volunteered their services as consultants, committee members, and staffers.  These include members and staff of the Joint Secretariat for the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

In a March 16 statement, Jalandoni said: “In a most reprehensible act of bad faith, government has put all those who were duly covered with safety and immunity guarantees on the wanted list, to be charged with rebellion and to be hunted down like criminals.”

The JASIG was signed by the NDFP and GRP on February 24, 1995, and in effect provides safety and immunity guarantees to all those identified to be involved in the peace negotiations.

Jalandoni said that the Arroyo administration had turned the JASIG from “a solemn and binding peace agreement into an instrument of fascist repression.”

Jalandoni said that Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales violates the right to due process with the setting up of a “rogues gallery”, and putting up bounties for as much as P10 million per person.

Such moves also threaten the GRP-NDF peace negotiations which is being supported and funded by the Royal Norwegian Government, Jalandoni said.  “The Arroyo regime must be vigorously condemned for the worst kind of treachery,” he said. Bulatlat

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Publications

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