Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 2, Number 39 November 3 - 9, 2002 Quezon City, Philippines |
Bush-GMA
Pressure on EU Seen to Scuttle Peace Talks The
recent decision of the European Union to cite Jose Maria Sison and the NPA as
“foreign terrorists” may be the last nail that would irreversibly scuttle
peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDFP. The EU decision, it
has been reported, is a sign it has bowed to the machinations of the U.S.
government which, along with the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, has renewed
its drive to demonize and criminalize the revolutionary movement in the
Philippines. BY
BULATLAT.COM The
Macapagal-Arroyo administration, along with the U.S. government, was accused of
scuttling the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines
(NDFP) by pushing for the inclusion of the Front’s chief political consultant
and the New People’s Army (NPA) in the European Union’s list of “foreign
terrorist persons, groups and entities.” In
a news conference in Utrecht, The Netherlands Oct. 31, Jose Maria Sison,
NDFP’s chief political consultant, and chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni said
the EU move imperiled the peace negotiations between the Manila government and
the NDFP. Acting
through its Council, the EU on Oct. 28 included Sison and the NPA in its updated
list of “foreign terrorists.” The action was made on the heels of relentless
lobbying by the Macapagal-Arroyo government, through Foreign Secretary Blas Ople,
for European governments to consider the NDFP, its allied organizations and
leaders as “foreign terrorist groups.” In
the news conference, Sison described the European Council decision as
“unjust.” “The
European Council has unjustly put my name on the list of so-called terrorists in
accordance with the request earlier made by the Dutch government upon the
prompting of the US government,” the NDFP consultant said. “My democratic
rights are viciously violated. I am criminalized as a ‘terrorist’ without
due process. I am defamed and demonized. My life is being threatened. I suffer
moral and material damages.” Sison
said he is “simply an unemployed teacher, prevented by the Dutch government
from working for more than 14 years already and serving as the chief political
consultant of the NDFP in its peace negotiations with the Government of the
Republic of the Philippines (GRP).” “It
is wrong to make me appear as if I were more powerful than such organs of
leadership as the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP),
the national military staff of the NPA and the National Council of the NDFP,
which are all in the Philippines,” he further said. Bowed
down to US pressure The
inclusion of the NPA and his name to the EU list, Sison also said, shows that
the EU presidency has bowed down to pressures from Washington. He said the new
list indicates that the EU has also followed the line of the Bush administration
with regards the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. He
warned that the NDFP leadership in the Philippines would find it untenable to
continue with the peace negotiations if their negotiators, consultants and staff
are put under duress with threats to their liberty and person. Sison
told reporters that the US wants the peace talks to collapse and intensify the
civil war in the Philippines. He also cited information appearing in the
Internet putting his life in danger as a result of the listing. The
EU list, he said, paves the way for his extradition and the ultimate scuttling
of the peace talks. Jalandoni,
on the other hand, said the new EU list is prejudicial to the continuation of
the peace negotiations. As
this developed, Sison’s lawyers have filed a civil rights case in the
Netherlands against the Dutch government listing. Another battery of his lawyers
are set to challenge the European listing before the European High Court in
Luxembourg. Jalandoni
said that the Committee DEFEND would continue to spearhead the campaign for the
defense of the democratic rights of Professor Sison and other progressive
Filipinos. The
Amsterdam-based Committee DEFEND has been campaigning for worldwide support for
Sison and has been raising funds for his legal defense. Bush-GMA
meeting The
move to include Sison and other revolutionary groups in the “terrorist list”
was renewed during President Macapagal-Arroyo’s visit in Washington November
last year. In a report cited by an Inquirer columnist, House Speaker Jose de
Venecia says the plan was hatched in a meeting between the Philippine president
and U.S. President Bush. A few months later, the U.S. state department came up
with an updated list of “foreign terrorist organizations” (FTOs) which
included the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA. Taking
the cue, the Dutch government froze the small bank account of Sison while
stopping welfare benefits the Utrecht government had given him since his exile.
Similar moves have also been taken by the Canadian government on what it alleged
as “fronts” of the Philippine Left. The “war on terrorism” in the Philippines, launched after Bush unleashed “Operation Enduring Freedom” in October last year, has since shifted to a total war against the NPA. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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