Resume Peace Talks with NDFP, GMA Urged

Under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s watch, some 170 leaders and members of Bayan Muna and other militant groups have been summarily killed in a ruthless campaign reportedly under the command of Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and Armed Forces generals. Stop this rampage, the president has been urged, and go back to the negotiating table.

By Karl G. Ombion and Edgar A. Cadagat
Cobra-Ans / Bulatlat.com

BACOLOD CITY - Bayan Muna (People First) leaders have challenged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to reopen peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) immediately in memory of the late Bishop Emeritus Antonio Y. Fortich who, they said, was a staunch advocate of social justice and genuine peace.

The challenge was hurled even as other militant leaders accused top defense and military officials of leading a campaign for the physical elimination of Bayan Muna and other organizations who are critical of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and its close ties with the United States.

Bayan Muna leaders led by Party-list Reps. Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza were in Bacolod to attend the burial of the late Bishop Emeritus Msgr. Antonio Y. Fortich July 15.

Ocampo, in particular, accused Macapagal-Arroyo of trying to destroy cause-oriented organizations by hunting down their leaders and members instead of seeking peace.

For the last two years, Ocampo said, 170 members of Bayan Muna and their allied organizations have been killed. Militant organizations have also been the subject of continuing black propaganda in order to justify their killings through extra-legal means carried out by the state’s security forces, the congressman who once served as chief NDFP negotiator said.

The late Monsignor Fortich proved he was a man of peace when he chaired the National Cease-fire Commission during the Aquino presidency in the late 1980s, Ocampo also recalled. The commission was formed to oversee a 60-day ceasefire while peace talks were held after Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency following the Edsa I revolt in February 1986.

Representative Maza, on the other hand, said prospects for the full observance and respect for human rights - a prime concern of the late bishop - are dimming more then ever. The government has not spared militant organizations from its relentless witchhunt, she said.

“Gabriela offices are being placed under surveillance by the military,” Maza also said.

Engineering the wichhunt was linked squarely to the defense department and Armed Forces generals.

Danilo Ramos, secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP – Peasant Movement in the Philippines), accused Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and AFP generals of leading the campaign against militant groups saying they have unleashed Special Operations Teams (SOTs) for the purpose.

Since the Marcos years, SOTs were used mainly in the countryside to conduct smear campaigns aimed at isolating and crippling militant, cause-oriented organizations.

In a recent issue, the AFP’s official newsletter, “Ang Tala,” said that in order to marginalize Bayan Muna and militant groups, the government must see to it that their numbers are reduced. This much was exemplified by Col. Jovito Palparan who stands accused of having a hand in the extra-judicial execution of many Bayan Muna members and leaders in Mindoro.

The newsletter, which is published by the AFP chief of staff, says that the main strategy in the campaign is to first label legal organizations as Communist Party “fronts” followed by the physical elimination of their leaders and members. Bulatlat.com / Cobra-Ans

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