The NDFP in Utrecht: The Untold Story

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines’ (NDFP) international representatives have been holding office in Utrecht, the Netherlands for several decades now. In fact, among Filipino tourists and several Philippine government functionaries, Utrecht has only two major attractions worth visiting – the Utrecht Dom (once the tallest architecture in flat Netherlands), and the NDFP international information office.

BY D. L. MONDELO
Chief Political Correspondent in Europe
Bulatlat.Com

The NDFP celebrated its 30^th anniversary last April 24. Overseas, the focus was the rustic, quiet and pleasant Dutch central city of Utrecht.

It is there where the NDFP maintains an international information office (duly registered with the Utrecht Chamber of Commerce) and where the NDFP’s international work germinated. It is home away from home for most of the NDFP international representatives and personnel, who have lived there since the early 70s.

Increasingly, many Filipinos, even the non-politically-inclined ones, are drawn to Utrecht because of the presence of the NDFP there, among other things. For many of them, Utrecht has become synonymous with the NDFP.

Among the more prominent visitors of the NDFP International Office were former Justice Secretary and GRP peace panel negotiator Silvestre Bello, former Ambassador and GRP peace panel negotiator Howard Dy, Gov. Apeng Yap of Tarlac, Sec. Hernani Braganza, the late ex-ambassador Pacifico Castro, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal. Sen. Loren Legarda was also a visitor when she was still a television broadcaster doing an interview on NDFP representatives.

How the NDFP took root in Utrecht and how it continues to maintain a stable support system from the Dutch people are matters that the NDFP representatives are only too willing to share and make public.

According to Coni Ledesma (Makibaka international representative and NDFP peace panel member), even before she and husband Luis Jalandoni (LJ), who is NDFP chief international representative and NDFP peace panel chief negotiator, came to Utrecht in 1976, there was already a Dutch group campaigning against the Marcos fascist dictatorship.

The Netherlands (this is the formal name of the country, not Holland as is popularly used, because Holland is just a province of the Netherlands) was the best choice for political refugees like Ledesma and Jalandoni because the Netherlands then was a liberal haven for persecuted people escaping brutal U.S.-supported dictatorships in south and central America, Africa and Asia. To illustrate how liberal the political climate in the Netherlands then, the Dutch government in the 70s intervened to provide refuge to many Chilean political prisoners.

Europe in the 70s was a seat of the worldwide anti-war movement. The Vietnam War was in its conclusion. Support for national liberation movements was very hip and popular. Political refugees who came to Europe escaping dictatorships and fascism in their countries, formed many solidarity groups. Many national liberation movements (NLM) found Europe and the Netherlands accommodating and supportive to their cause and some even maintained representatives in the continent.

Thus, European, particularly Dutch, support for the Filipino people’s resistance and the NDFP in the Philippines came as a matter of course.

Geographically, Utrecht is also centrally located and easily accessible from every point in Western Europe.

Shortly after Ledesma and Jalandoni arrived in the Netherlands, the solidarity group formed earlier became a solidarity group for the NDFP.

The NDFP’s presence in Utrecht thus began. According to Jalandoni and Ledesma, the main task of the NDFP International Office then (as it is now) was to provide information on the situation of the Philippines, the people’s resistance, representation and diplomatic work and organizing Filipinos and solidarity groups. It published the NDF Update, which later came out with a French edition. The NDFP also helped in the formation of solidarity groups in Italy, London and Ireland, aside from the one in Utrecht

After only four years of doing its international work in Europe, the NDFP scored a big political victory, together with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari. The Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) Session on the Philippines, convened in October 1980 in Antwerp, Belgium, declared that the Marcos dictatorship did not anymore represent the Filipino people, and recognized the NDFP and MNLF as the true representatives of the Filipino and Moro people.

The PPT was started by a prominent Italian senator in the 1970s and included renowned Nobel Peace Prize winners who sat as jury during its sessions. Witnesses for the NDFP were representatives from the New People’s Army (NPA), worker, indigenous people, peasant, youth and professional sectors. They were flown in secretly to the tribunal with the help of many European supporters.

After the political victory of the NDFP in the PPT, which virtually bestowed upon the NDFP the status of belligerency, the NDFP in Utrecht needed to systematize its operations including the maintenance of a regular office. From a nondescript office in the very heart of Utrecht’s commercial district, the NDFP transferred to a much convenient office space shared with the Dutch solidarity group for the Philippines.

It is interesting to note that more than 20 years later, the NDFP today still maintains the same office and telephone number it had, and even the same post office box provided to the NDFP by a Dutch lady supporter, who remained supportive of the NDFP until her death.

When Prof. Jose Ma. Sison was arrested in 1977 in Tarlac province, the Dutch solidarity group began a signature campaign to demand the release of Sison. Among those who signed was Marga Klome – the first woman cabinet minister in the Netherlands.  Similarly, during the first-ever demonstration in 1977 in Den Haag (seat of the Dutch government) to protest the fascist dictatorship in the Philippines, a young member of the Dutch parliament, who was also an activist for Latin America, by the name of Melkert, spoke passionately against the abuses of the Marcos regime. He would several decades later become a cabinet minister and the main proponent of the popularly pro-people job scheme that until today benefits millions of Dutch people (that would later be named after him – “Melkert Baan”).

Also during that period, several Dutch political parties recognized the NDFP, among them the PSP and the PPR, which are both pacifists. It was the Dutch PSP that introduced the NDFP to PASOK party that was then the ruling party in Greece. The NDFP and PASOK had a history of good working relationship, although the latter did not officially recognize the NDFP. It was also the PSP that recommended Bernard Tomlow, then a budding young lawyer, to be the NDFP’s legal counsel. Until today, Tomlow remains the NDFP’s lawyer even as he is recognized as one of the Netherlands’ top corporate lawyers. His latest project for the NDFP was a film documentary made in cooperation with a Dutch television channel to debunk the accusation that his client, NDFP chief political consultant Prof. Sison, is a terrorist. The documentary included interviews with top Philippine government officials saying they do not believe Sison is a terrorist and was shown in several major Dutch TV recently.

But not everyone in the Dutch government was happy over the presence of the NDFP in Utrecht.  In May 1987 when former Pres. Fidel Ramos accused the NDFP of smuggling arms and money to the Philippines from Europe, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs van den Broek called on the Dutch parliament to make an investigation. NDFP supporters and its legal counsel immediately made representations and wrote protest letters alongside a press conference at the Utrecht office. That press conference was significant because it was first time the office became public.

Eventually van den Broek was forced to admit that the NDFP had not violated any Dutch or international law. Looking back, NDFP representatives jokingly referred to the incident as the “Pantalon (pants) Affair” because the name of the Dutch minister translated into English means pair of pants.

Interest in the NDFP International Office and Utrecht increased when Sison arrived in 1987 and asked for political asylum. The NDFP office would hold frequent press conferences on his case.

In the early 1990s during the great “internal debates” that rocked the Philippine revolutionary movement, Utrecht was once again in the limelight. Several former NDFP personnel based in Utrecht bolted the movement when they could not accept that it committed errors. They rejected rectification and renewal. They also “took” with them many Dutch supporters and some Filipino organizations. However, according to Ledesma and Jalandoni, many others recognized and accepted the mistakes and persevered with the mandate of the NDFP international office.

More than 10 years after that debacle, the NDFP in Utrecht appears to be back to its old self.

When peace talks with the government started in 1992 in the Netherlands, the NDFP international office was once again an object of interest and a beehive of activities. The NDFP peace panel was approached by many volunteers, Dutch, Filipino and other Netherlands-based nationalities, offering assistance – from doing research, office work to cooking and driving.  The peace talks have been sponsored by the Dutch, Belgian and Norwegian governments, and has the support of the European Parliament. Filipino organizations once hosted a dinner for the GRP and NDFP peace panels in a chic art and cultural gallery in Amsterdam after some breakthrough in the peace talks between the two parties.

Some Filipinos whom the NDFP has helped in some way or another have donated office and kitchen supplies. Filipino students, NGO workers, tourists regularly drop by to have a chat and get a glimpse of either Sison or Jalandoni, and have their pictures taken with them.

NDFP international representatives would also be invited to big gatherings such as the World Social Forum in 1995 in Denmark, and in other big political gatherings in Germany, Belgium and Italy.

When the NDFP celebrated its 30^th year this year, the world had already seen a lot of changes, Utrecht and the Netherlands included. Last year after the U.S. State Department announced the inclusion of the New People’s Army  (an organization allied with the NDFP), and Sison in its list of “terrorists,” the Dutch government and eventually the European Council responded with parallel acts by declaring the NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and Sison as terrorists.

The NDFP International Office was again in the spotlight. But surprisingly, NDFP representatives exude greater optimism and confidence despite this new attack against their organization. They maintain that though there are some supporters and friends who have been intimidated by the terrorist labeling, the overwhelming Dutch public and their network of supporters have remained convinced of the justness of the NDFP’s vision for the Philippines.

Despite the “terrorist” labeling, NDFP personnel continue to receive many invitations to attend birthday parties, weddings, baptisms, anniversaries, Christmas and other holiday celebrations. The traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations hosted annually by the NDFP in its Utrecht office are always overflowing with Filipino and other Dutch guests.

Many members of the Dutch and European Parliament have signed letters demanding the delisting of Prof. Sison , the CPP and NPA from the terrorist list. Top-level Dutch church officials have gone so far as to offer their churches as sanctuary to Sison. Ordinary Dutch citizens volunteer their homes to Sison in case the Dutch government makes good its threat to throw him out of his rented apartment. Even neighbors reportedly provide them natural protection by telling them about unknown persons present in the neighborhood. This aside from the thousands of signatures collected from ordinary Dutch people asking that the terrorist label be dropped.

As one enters the NDFP International Office, one would immediately notice a painting of the NDFP flag, hanging proudly on the wall, and a beautiful sculpture of a peasant woman holding a rifle – both gifted to the NDFP by well-known Filipino artists. They provide an imposing background to the beehive of activities (meetings, discussions, teleconferences, consultations, press conferences, among others) that animate that office almost 24 hours a day.

As one Philippine Congressman who visited the NDFP International Office recently remarked amusingly: “You should hear the frequent telephone calls from all over the world.”

The traffic of visitors – both curious and business, continues at the NDFP office in Utrecht. Obviously, political developments in the Philippines and the rest of the world, and the anticipated attacks on the NDFP, have failed put a leash on its office in Utrecht. Bulatlat.com

(The author thanks Coni Ledesma, Luis Jalandoni and Ruth de Leon, executive director of the NDFP International Information Office, for their inputs in this article).

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