RP-NDF joint panel opens hearings

The Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) tasked to address cases of human rights violations by government and communist rebels formally began functioning yesterday, even as a number complaints have already been filed before it by a Church-based group.

The JMC will hold office at the multi-purpose center of the Immaculate Concepcion Parish in Quezon City.

The body is composed of an equal number of representatives from the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF), as well as observers from militant, Church and independent human rights groups and its primary obligation is to oversee the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

The NDF is the underground political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

The pact with the NDF was the first major agreement sealed by Malacañang on March 16, 1998. The peace process between the government and the communist rebels commenced in 1992.

Tarlac Gov. Jose Yap, senior consultant of the government panel, said there will be three other proposed major agreements, which they have to discuss with the Europe-based NDF peace panel, to finally end the 35-year-old Maoist rebellion.

These are the rebels’ proposal for socio-economic reforms, including putting some of the country’s major industries under state control and seeking the implementation of a "genuine" agrarian reform program; political and constitutional reforms; and the disbanding of the NPA and the insurgents’ reintegration into mainstream society.

Also present at the inauguration ceremonies for the JMC were chief government peace negotiator Silvestre Bello III, several other government panel members, and NDF representatives led by rebel panel member and defrocked Catholic priest Fidel Agcaoili.

Leaders of mainstream militant groups and Church-based human rights advocates were also present. Agcaoili co-chairs the JMC representing the NDF, while Carlos Medina Jr. represents the government.

"This is a major step being undertaken in our efforts to address the roots of the insurgency," said Yap. "Now, both sides (the government and the rebels) have a venue to formally air grievances against the abuses of soldiers and guerrilla forces."

He added that the JMC will also ensure that all allegations of human rights violations by either sides "will have to be immediately addressed, and guarantee that justice will be rendered where it is due."

The NDF, on the other hand, regards the CARHRIHL as a vital document that would ensure the "humanitarian conduct" of the more than three decades of armed conflict.

The committee’s creation and its activation were among the NDF demands heeded by government when the peace talks resumed in February. Negotiations were indefinitely suspended by President Arroyo in mid-2001 after rebel assassins felled Reps. Rodolfo Aguinaldo of Cagayan and Marcial Punzalan of Quezon.

Complaints

As this developed, the Promotion for Church People’s Response (PCPR), whose leaders were present during the JMC’s opening rites, submitted before the body a number of complaints against the government, particularly the military.

The group, led by Rev. Fr. Allan Jose Arcebuche, OFM, wants the JMC to investigate the series of bombings in Davao City, specifically the alleged involvement in these incidents of former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, who is now the government anti-kidnapping chief.

At the time the bombings took place, the government accused the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of being supposedly behind the terror attacks, purportedly with the help of urban-based Maoist partisans of the NPA.

But during the July 27 Oakwood Mutiny, young rebel soldiers belonging to the so-called "Magdalo Group" accused Reyes and former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus of masterminding the bombings that killed and maimed a number of people.

"The real bombers and masterminds must be punished," demanded Rev. Fr. Arcebuche.

The PCPR also sought an immediate investigation into "the long list of brutal killings, attempted killings, enforced disappearances, harassment and grave threats" against civilians and activists by elements of the Army’s 204th Infantry Brigade in the course of its counterinsurgency operations in Mindoro Oriental.

The military unit has been accused of the murder of human rights activists Eden Marcellana and Eduardo Gumanoy and Naujan vice mayor Juvy Magsino, among others.

The PCPR also said suspected Army troopers in Candelaria, Quezon "tortured the whole day" on April 25 one Tatay Biring Pasia, a 72-year-old man who was tagged as an NPA guerrilla.

Round Two

Meanwhile, Yap revealed that the government panel will be leaving for Oslo in Norway on June 20 for the formal resumption of talks with the NDF panel led by self-exiled communist leaders — CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison and chief rebel negotiator Luis Jalandoni.

The Norwegian government continues to host the negotiations as a third party facilitator.

The peace process was temporarily suspended late last April as the nation focused on the May 10 national and local elections.

Scheduled for discussion in the four-day talks are the rebels’ proposal for socio-economic reforms. A reciprocal working committee has already been formed to draft an agreement on the issue.

Yap said that Malacañang wants the peace negotiations wrapped up in six months.

However, the "terrorist" tag put by the US and the 15-nation European Union (EU) on the CPP-NPA and Sison still poses a major obstacle to the peace talks. Sison is the NDF panel’s chief political consultant.