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Volume IV,  Number 3              February 15 - 21, 2004            Quezon City, Philippines


 





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Gov’t OKs Removal of ‘Terrorist’ Tag on Joema Sison, CPP-NPA

The Arroyo government will ask the European Commission and the governments of the U.S., Canada, Australia and The Netherlands to take Jose Maria Sison, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and New People’s Army (NPA) out of the “terrorist list.”

By Bulatlat.com
Special News Release
14 Feb. 2004

Seated (L-R) during informal talks in a hotel in Oslo, Norway October last year are: Jose Maria Sison, NDFP chief political consultant; Luis Jalandoni, NDFP panel chair; an NDFP member; NDFP panel members Juliet de Lima-Sison and Coni Ledesma; a GRP member; Silvestre Bello III, GRP panel chair; and Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.  Bulatlat.com File Photo

The Arroyo government will ask the European Commission (EC) and the governments of the U.S., Canada, Australia and The Netherlands to take Jose Maria Sison, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and New People’s Army (NPA) out of the “terrorist list.”

This agreement was reached as a confidence-building measure a few hours ago today by the negotiating panels of the GRP (for Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Oslo, Norway. Both sides spent the last two days trying to hammer out an agreement on the NDFP demand over the “terrorist” list including the drafting of the joint position that lasted from night till morning today.

In an interview by Bulatlat.com this afternoon, NDFP panel chair Luis Jalandoni said the GRP panel, headed by former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III concurred with their position that the “terrorist” list hampers the peace negotiations and violates the principles of national sovereignty and the agreements on The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

The joint position of the two panels that will be made public today in a news conference in Oslo will be conveyed by the Norwegian government – as third party facilitator – to the EC of the European Union and the foreign governments who made the “foreign terrorist list” of Sison, the CPP and NPA.

The joint press conference formally ends the formal talks that began last Feb. 10.

Breakthrough

The GRP panel’s concession on the “terrorist” list is considered a breakthrough because it eliminates a major obstacle to the peace process with the NDFP. It will also set aside perceptions that the listing constitutes meddling by foreign governments in the peace talks.

Aside from the “terrorist” list issue, the GRP also agreed to “undertake efforts” for the immediate release of at least 23 political prisoners whose freedom had already been decided upon in 2001 by the Arroyo government following the NDFP demand.

Among the prisoners expected to be released are six farmers implicated in the assassination of Paul and Michael Quintos, sons of former Rep. Ricardo Quintos in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro; and Donato Continente, who has been detained at the National Bilibid Prisons for 15 years allegedly for taking part in the killing of a U.S. military intelligence specialist, Col. James “Nick” Rowe, in April 1989.

The NDFP also demanded the release of women political prisoners and children, including Zenaida Llesis whose one-year old daughter was diagnosed as having a hole in the heart and a tumor in the liver.

The GRP also agreed to review the cases of some 300 political prisoners who were convicted of common crimes like murder and illegal possession of firearms. Their convictions, according to Jalandoni, are contrary to the political offense doctrine that is enshrined in the historic Supreme Court ruling on the Amado V. Hernandez case.

Jalandoni also revealed that both panels will resume their formal talks last week of March this year. China will probably host the talks, he said, with the Norwegian government still acting as third party facilitator.

Asked why China, the NDFP chair said that it is a big and influential country and has sent positive feelers that it is willing to host the talks.

Snag

The GRP-NDFP talks in Oslo initially hit a snag on the insistence of the Bello panel that the NPA be made to withdraw its “permit-to-campaign” (PTC) policy and desist from further launching tactical operations against the government.

In a phone interview by Bulatlat.com last Feb. 12, Jalandoni warned that the Arroyo government, through the GRP panel, will have to account for scuttling the peace talks because of what the NDFP panel chair said constitutes a “blackmail.” All the new GRP demands, he said, are tantamount to not only “blackmail” but worse, a pressure to force the NDFP to capitulate to the GRP.

The talks bogged down for two days just on this thorny issue which is Item 4 in the agenda, Jalandoni told Bulatlat.com.

Other confidence-building measures

Other items agreed upon in the Oslo talks are: the indemnification of 10,000 Marcos torture victims; the setting up of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for the CARHRIHL; and the resumption of the reciprocal working committee on social and economic reform.

Peace talks with the NDFP have been ongoing since 1987 and thus far, have resulted in the signing of 10 agreements most of them during the Ramos presidency. Talks broke down in 2001 following the assassination of Cagayan Valley Gov. Rodolfo Aguinaldo by the New People’s Army (NPA). But informal, back-channel talks continued until last January where both parties agreed to resume formal peace talks.

Over the past few years, the GRP-NDFP peace talks have been hosted by the Norwegian government as third party facilitator.

Also in the GRP panel for the Oslo talks are lawyer Rene Sarmiento, panel adviser Cerge Remonde, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Assistant Secretary Ma. Cleofe Gettie Sandoval, lawyer Sedfrey Candelaria, Rebecca Tañada, Maj. Ferdinand Baraquel and OPAPP Executive Director Carla Munsayac.

With Jalandoni for the NDFP panel are chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison, Fidel Agcaoili, Julieta de Lima and Coni Ledesma. Assisting them are Romeo Capulong, senior legal consultant; Vicente Ladlad, political consultant; lawyer Jayson Lamchek, special legal consultant for the joint monitoring committee; lawyer Marie Yuvienco, legal consultant on social and economic reforms; Rafael Baylosis and Randall Echanis, members of the Reciprocal Working Committee; and Prof. Edberto Villegas and Vivian de Lima, economic consultants. Bulatlat.com

Related article:

GRP-NDFP Formal Talks Hits Snag in Oslo; Luis Jalandoni accuses GMA of using ‘terrorist’ list to blackmail NDFP

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