As consultants of the NDFP for the peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), the lawyers said, Calubid and Calubad are duly accredited persons under the JASIG and therefore have the “inherent right to their security.” Beloy and Ancheta enjoy the same protection as staff members of Calubid.
JASIG suspension
The disappearance of the four and their companions came a year after the GRP suspended the JASIG. Signed by the NDFP and GRP on Feb. 24, 1995, the joint accord secures its holders from arrests while they perform their duties related to the peace process like consultations and public meetings. They also have free and uninhibited passage in all areas in the Philippines in connection with and in furtherance of the peace negotiations.
The NDFP lists 97 persons under JASIG, including Calubid, Calubad and the two staff members.
On Aug. 3, 2005, the GRP suspended the JASIG and gave a 30-day ultimatum to all JASIG holders belonging to the NDFP. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced on the same day that peace negotiations with the NDFP were indefinitely suspended.
In statements to media, the NDFP, however, said that the JASIG could not be suspended unilaterally. NDFP peace panel chair Luis Jalandoni said, “the safety and immunity guarantees contained therein have been reciprocally extended by the GRP and the NDFP to each other’s participants in the peace negotiations. These guarantees are not a unilateral concession or favor extended by the GRP to the NDFP or to the latter’s panel members, consultants and personnel.”
Meanwhile, in a letter on July 20, Fidel Agcaoili, chair of the NDFP-Joint Secretariat of the Joint Monitoring Committee (NDFP-JS-JMC), proposed to the GRP section of the JS-JMC to carry out joint fact-finding missions on seven cases of abductions involving suspected members of the NPA, consultants of the NDFP for the peace negotiations and some unarmed civilians.
Agcaoili named the abductions of Philip Limjoco and Calubid who are both respondents in Criminal Case No. 2006-994 for rebellion. Limjoco was seized May 8 in Dau, Pampanga and is No. 23 in the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) list of 49 individuals charged with rebellion.
Calubid, on the other hand, is No. 22 on the same list. In a powerpoint presentation by the Northern Luzon Command (NolCom) sometime in March this year, military intelligence claim Calubid heads the team that conspired with rebel soldiers in planning to overthrow the Macapagal-Arroyo government through a civilian-backed coup on Feb. 24.
Negros Occidental
Agcaoili also mentioned the abductions of Calubid’s three other companions, Ancheta, Roberto Marapo, a suspected NPA member, and his civilian companion Dionelo Borres who disappeared May 28 in Negros Occidental.
Also included are the cases of Bayan Muna member Roland Porter who was abducted May 16 in Makati City and that of two University of the Philippines students, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, and farmer Manuel Merino who were seized June 26 in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
If the investigations push through, Agcaoili proposed in the same letter that the ad-hoc joint committee be presided jointly by Mercedes Contreras-Danenberg and Aileen Bacalso for the GRP and Bishop Tomas Millamena and Marie Hilao-Enriquez for the NDFP together with three representatives each from both the GRP and NDFP nominees to the JS.
Findings will then be submitted to the JMC.
The JMC was formed to monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). However, Agcaoili said in a statement that the JMC has never met since April 2004 despite hundreds of cases being filed with them. As of July 2006, the JMC has 915 cases, 805 of which are against the GRP.
Candelaria has yet to comment on the proposal. Pamela Padilla of the GRP-JS-JMC said in a telephone interview that the letter has been forwarded to the GRP peace panel. Bulatlat
