NDF won’t sign draft accord

UTRECHT, the Netherlands — The National Democratic Front (NDF) declared here Friday its rejection of a draft peace agreement that proposes a complete inventory of all rebel weapons and an accounting of all members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

NDF chairman Luis Jalandoni said the "Final Peace Accord" presented to the rebels by the government panel headed by Silvestre Bello III "is a violation of The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 that stipulates the principle of non-capitulation."

The NDF is the umbrella organization of the communist rebel movement in the Philippines.

Among other proposals, Jalandoni pointed out stipulations in the draft final peace agreement for an inventory of all rebel weapons and materiel, as well as a complete list of NPA fighters with their records.

"It takes two to tango," Jalandoni said. "If there is no sincerity on the part of GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines), what reason would we have for signing such a final peace agreement? They are doble-cara (two-faced), without palabra de honor (word of honor). President Macapagal (Arroyo) simply wants to have a good image for the coming elections."

At the same time, Jalandoni branded Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita and military spokesman Col. Daniel Lucero as "arrogant" amid reports that the two are against moves to lift the international terror tag on the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA.

Jalandoni said Ermita and Lucero wanted "to cover up for the widespread human rights violations being committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines."

The NDF chairman insisted that both sides undertake confidence-building measures to resolve the issue of terrorist listing under The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees as well as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

He said that under the agreement signed in Oslo, Norway last week, both parties have recognized that the Philippines has sovereign rights over events that led to the inclusion of the CPP-NPA in the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) by the US government.

Jalandoni claimed Washington is usurping the sovereign rights of the Philippine government in including the communist rebel movement in the FTO.

CPP-NPA spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said Ermita and the defense-military establishment remains the stumbling block in the peace process.

Rosal said Ermita’s "rigid position" against delisting the CPP-NPA contradicts the spirit and letter of the Oslo agreement.

In Manila, President Arroyo challenged yesterday the CPP-NPA leaders to show their sincerity in the peace process by putting a stop on their "atrocities."

"The leadership of the CPP-NPA must stop its atrocities if it is indeed serious in the peace process and its delisting from the ranks of foreign terrorist organizations," Mrs. Arroyo said.

The President made the statement as she reiterated her "standing order" on the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to stay on alert against another attack from NPA rebels.

The Chief Executive said the Philippine government will continue its efforts to forge a final peace pact with the CPP-NPA even as rebels continue their offensives where least eight police officers were killed in separate attacks in Masbate and Negros since Monday.

The attacks came just after the talks between the government and the rebels ended in Oslo on Saturday with plans to resume in March, possibly in China.

"There is a standing order to the AFP and the PNP not (to) lower their guard and to double their efforts in effecting security measures covering vital installations in the midst of the renewed intensified attacks of the communist rebels," Mrs. Arroyo said. - With Marichu Villanueva, Benjie Villa