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“Instead of respecting the agreements it signed with the NDFP, this government is instead preoccupied in emasculating each one.” – Roy Erecre, NDFP consultant, political prisoner
“This time, Malacañang might be aiming to save the reputation of its closest allies, while sacrificing a few others who the administration might view as dispensable.” – Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon
“Even before Yolanda, majority of the victims have been poor, with no regular income, no access to education and health and have been experiencing hunger. The attitude should be to resolve those problems, not to bring back the old situation which is miserable.” – Wilma Austria
“If we lift the current restrictions, local enterprises and businesses would suffer due to the unrestrained dominance of foreign investors. Lifting the economic limits would also open the floodgates for further exploitation of our country’s scarce natural resources, including forests and mineral reserves.” – Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon
“The reactionary government is only after a ceasefire while the revolutionary movement treats ceasefire as a result of substantive agreements. The reactionary government only wants a ceasefire because it does not want to address the fundamental roots of the armed conflict.” – Benito Tiamzon
“Task Force Abono, with the blessing of the Aquino administration, consciously maneuvered to absolve Arroyo and her minions from the plunder of the fertilizer fund scam.” – Antonio Flores, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
The NDFP believes that genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization are key measures in addressing the roots of the armed conflict, but the GPH refuses to discuss these saying that climate change is the country’s biggest problem.
United States President Barack Obama's two-day state visit to the Philippines was met with protest actions by progressive groups. On April 29, protesters expressed outrage at the signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and marched toward the US Embassy in Manila. Police dispersed the protesters using truncheons and water cannon.
The peace talks between the Government of the Philippines, represented by the Aquino administration, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines have been on and off during the last few years. The Aquino administration, which took over the reins of government on a platform of change, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which is representing a revolutionary movement that has been waging an armed struggle during the last 45 years to solve the basic ills confronting Philippine society, could not seem to come to terms on how to address the roots of the armed conflict and achieve a just a lasting peace. And instead of being able to move forward, the prospects for the peace negotiations seem to have become dimmer and dimmer.
How could the peace talks between the GPH and the NDFP proceed? Bulatlat.com's editor Benjie Oliveros and Rey Casambre, executive director of the Philippine Peace Center and one of the convenors of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform, discusses about this and more.
Bulatlat.com's editor Benjie Oliveros interviews Rey Claro Casambre, executive director of the Philippine Peace Center and one of the convenors of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform regarding the controversies surrounding the peace talks.
“We feel that the Aquino government has let the people down. There are many who continue to suffer five months after the calamity, and the government’s reconstruction is inherently anti-poor.” – Sr. Edita Eslopor, spokesperson of People Surge.
Lawyers of the Tiamzon couple asked the court, presided by Judge Madonna Echiverri, to give them five days to study the records and the evidence so they could appraise their clients about the charges being filed against them, but the court proceeded with the arraignment.
“If the Aquino administration is only after the accumulation of prisoners [among NDFP consultants] and does not want to address the roots of the armed conflict, then President Benigno Aquino III would be held liable by the Filipino people for killing the peace talks.” – Luis Jalandoni, NDFP panel chairman
Duterte: The government should honor what we have committed to the people and to the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines).
“This latest flagrant violation of the Jasig by the Aquino regime, in addition to so many other gross violations of the Jasig, most seriously prejudices the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations.” – Luis Jalandoni, NDFP panel chairman
“Upholding the constitutionality of the Cybercrime Law is tantamount to sanctioning repression of the freedom of expression and speech, a move that harks back to the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship.” – College Editors Guild of the Philippines
The Philippines is contributing to the spending requirement for the expansion here of US military facilities.
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