Joma threatens to pull out of peace talks

Communist leader Jose Ma. Sison has threatened to pull out of the ongoing peace talks if the government fails to form a joint committee to monitor human rights violations and draft a satisfactory pact on socio-economic reforms.

In a message from the Netherlands on the 33rd anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines last Dec. 26, Sison said the communist movement is ready to "disengage" from the peace talks if the government does not comply with the two conditions.

The conditions were among the points in the "Comprehensive Agreement of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law" which the government signed with the communists two years ago.

But the talks bogged down after both the government and the communist umbrella organization National Democratic Front (NDF) failed to agree on how to implement the agreement.

After secret negotiations in Norway, where the talks are being held, both sides agreed to form the joint committee that would now address violations of human rights.

The peace talks almost bogged down twice this year after the CPP’s armed wing New People’s Army (NPA) admitted responsibility for the assassinations of Quezon Rep. Marcial Punzalan on May 13 and former Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo on June 12.

The government had complained that the assassinations were also violations of human rights but the communist movement countered that the killings were "just" executions for "crimes against the people."

At the same time, Sison, alias "Armando Liwanag," crowed over the NDF’s success in getting the government to sign the human rights pact and its recognition of the NDF’s status of belligerency.

"It (NDF) has successfully required the government... to co-sign the CARHIHL," he said. "Under this agreement, the revolutionary forces can go after violators of human rights and international humanitarian law and can take the (government) to account for violations."

The second stage of the negotiations are the talks on social and economic reforms followed by constitutional reforms.

At the same time, Sison maintained that "rectifications" within the communist movement are warranted because of "gross errors" in the minds of its members.

He reiterated the "correct principles" espoused by the CPP, which is the so-called people’s protracted war that aims to encircling cities from the countryside.

Critics, however, have called the communist movement’s rectification campaigns a dark chapter which has supposedly resulted in the summary execution of hundreds of party members. – Romel Bagares