Rebel Priest Calls Gloria 'Backstabber'
For unilaterally suspending safety and immunity guarantees

"The JASIG is not a safe-conduct privilege granted by the Arroyo government but a formal agreement between the two parties and cannot be suspended by one party without informing its counterpart and should only take effect after 30 days when the formal notice is recognized."

BY BULATLAT

Embattled President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been called a "backstabber" by a priest after her government announced anew Oct. 5 the suspension of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). The suspension – the second in two months – unilaterally strips 97 negotiators and consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) immunity from surveillance and arrest by Philippine state security forces.

In a press statement sent to media over the weekend, Fr. Santiago Salas, NDFP-Eastern Visayas spokesperson, who issued the rebuke on the president, said the JASIG suspension "seeks to harm peace negotiators and consultants of the NDFP."

About 97 NDFP personnel covered by the JASIG have standing warrants of arrests and can be arrested and the suspension of their criminal proceedings lifted, it was learned.

In an interview, NDFP legal consultant Edre Olalia said the government announcement is a real threat and alarming. "It can and it will result in witch hunting," he said.

The human rights lawyer also said the government's "notice of suspension" is erroneous because of its immediate effectivity. The notice of suspension, he added, is supposed to be signed by Macapagal-Arroyo as chief executive. The notice was only signed by Nieves Confesor, the government negotiating panel's chairperson.

Salas also belied government claims that the JASIG was granted to the NDFP personnel in the course of the peace negotiations. "The JASIG is not a safe-conduct privilege granted by the Arroyo government but a formal agreement between the two parties and cannot be suspended by one party without informing its counterpart and should only take effect after 30 days when the formal notice is recognized," he said.

Militarist

"This is the latest in a string of actions or orders by the Arroyo government which reflects its militarist posture," Olalia said, referring to recent Malacañang policies of a Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR), Executive Order (EO) 464 and the railroading of the Anti-Terrorism Bill by administration congressmen.

Salas also explained that the "intensified fascist state terrorism" in Eastern Visayas will worsen with such government policies. The region has become the recent target of intensified counter-insurgency operations since Maj. General Jovito Palparan took over the top post of the 8th Infantry Division (ID) of the Philippine Army (PA) in the area.

Last September, Palparan was promoted commander of the 7th ID based in Central Luzon.

The NDF-EV spokesperson also said the ATB threatens martial-law-type measures against so-called "terrorists," such as warrantless arrest and detention for three days, imposing the penalties of death or life imprisonment, and the curtailment of press freedom with regards interviewing "terrorists."

Invoking the terrorist bogey, Fr. Salas added, is the Arroyo government's desperate move to maintain its grip on power and to attack the democratic movement to oust Arroyo for "corruption, puppetry and fascist brutality."

"Cynically, the Arroyo regime wishes to create a climate of fear and to rule by virtual martial rule, branding and hounding anyone who opposes the government as a 'terrorist'," he said. "But more and more people are convinced that it is not 'terroristic' but patriotic and democratic to take a stand against Arroyo, even those from the military like Gen. Francisco Gudani and Col. Alexander Balutan who defied EO 464." Bulatlat

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