Gov’t won’t act on CPP-NPA request for delisting as ‘terrorists’

The Philippine government maintained yesterday it won’t step in to have the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) taken off the terrorist watch list of the United States and European countries.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert reiterated that the listing of the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorist organizations was a decision made by sovereign governments, and thus the Philippines would not interfere.

"This would depend on those countries which have listed them… whether or not they should be delisted. It is not for us to tell sovereign countries (what) their decision (should be)," Albert said during the regular breakfast forum of the Manila Overseas Press Club at the Ristorante La Dolce Fontana in Greenhills, San Juan.

Malacañang adopted the position taken by the foreign affairs department, saying Manila had "nothing to do" with the terrorist tag held by foreign countries on the CPP-NPA.

"It was not us which tagged them like that," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

Bunye said it was regrettable that the National Democratic Front (NDF) — the CPP’s political arm — consequently put off the peace process.

"We adopt the statement of Secretary Bello expressing regret over the announcement of the NDF to postpone peace talks with the government," Bunye told The STAR, referring to chief government negotiator Silvestre Bello III.

The government issued these statements even as the Norwegian embassy in Manila stressed any move by the Philippines to have the CPP-NPA removed from the terror watch list would help move forward the peace process with the communist rebels.

Norwegian embassy charge d’affaires Lars Loberg cited a joint statement signed by the peace panels of the Philippines and the NDF in Oslo earlier this year which indicated that both sides would work together to secure a delisting.

Norway is the third party facilitator in the peace talks.

The Philippine government’s inaction, Loberg suggested, could be a deliberate move so as to maintain its bargaining strength in the negotiations.

"That is a political consideration that has to be taken by the government of the Philippines. If they do so, then they actively take a point that would help the NDF quite a lot. But whether or not they are willing to do that has to be the result of the ongoing debate inside the government," Loberg said.

Communist rebel negotiators have unilaterally declared a one-month postponement of the peace talks, which were supposed to resume later this month, following the US government’s announcement last Monday to keep the mainstream Maoist movement in its international "terrorist" watch-list.

Bello said the NDF made "a unilateral decision without consulting" the Philippine government to delay the talks.

But Bello said main rebel negotiator Luis Jalandoni assured him over lunch Wednesday that talks may resume in September. Jalandoni, who was in self-exile in the Netherlands, arrived in Manila last week for informal talks.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared last Monday that his government has decided to retain the communist movement in its list of "foreign terrorist organizations."

The law makes it illegal for people in the US or subject to US jurisdiction to provide material support to the CPP and its armed wing and requires US financial institutions to block its assets.

It also provides a basis for the US to deny visas to representatives and members of the Maoist group.

The announcement came as Malacañang was still ironing out strained relations with the White House over its decision to pull out the small Philippine humanitarian contingent from Iraq to save the life of a Filipino hostage who was facing execution there.

The communist rebels have been waging an armed revolution for the past 35 years in their ultimate aim to set up a socialist government.

The military continues to regard the Maoist rebels as the biggest threat to national security, as they were able to survive serial factionalism that hit their ranks in the 1990s leading to the formation of several splinter communist groups.

Albert noted 10 new members of the EU have also decided to list the CPP and NPA as terror groups.

Last Tuesday, Johannes de Kok, head of delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, said the terror label on the CPP-NPA stays until such time that an end to hostilities between them and the Philippine government takes place.

It is up to the Philippines to make representations for the delisting, De Kok said.

But he pointed out conflict remains based on what the EU member-states have gathered from reports.

During the MOPC forum, Loberg asked Albert if the government has come up with any substantial idea on how to address the socio-economic issues in the peace talks as well as delisting the CPP-NPA from the terrorist watch list.

Loberg said he was not satisfied with Albert’s reply on the delisting issue because she merely read a prepared statement on the Philippine government’s position.

"I also tried to raise whether or not there is any proposal of substance in the socio-economic discussions and she (Albert) did not answer at all," Loberg said.

Albert, on the other hand, said the government will be coming out with a policy statement on the listing of terrorist organizations.

For his part, Bello blamed the insurgents’ move to postpone the talks and using the terror tag issue as "a barrier to the discussion of substantive concerns such as socio-economic reforms."

Moreover, he asserted they are prepared to report on the confidence-building measures that the panels agreed to address in the previous meeting last June. Conditions

Jalandoni said resuming the stalled negotiations would still have to depend on at least three conditions.

First, that the Department of Justice (DOJ) immediately issue an opinion on the "terrorist" tag accorded by Washington and the 15-nation European Union on the CPP, NPA, and self-exiled rebel leader Jose Ma. Sison.

Secondly, that the President come out with a formal statement renouncing the US label as a form of intrusion into the country’s domestic affairs and internal conflicts.

And lastly, for the government to make diplomatic representations with the White House on the issue.

The next round of talks had been scheduled to take place in Oslo on Aug. 24 until the end of the month.

In a statement from his foreign rebel home-base in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Sison revealed that he himself told the rebel panel to postpone the Aug. 24 round.

"As chief political consultant of the NDF," he said, "I have advised the NDF panel to postpone the next round of formal talks. until such time that the (government) can fulfill its obligations."

Sison warned that if Malacañang fails to comply with previous agreements with the rebels, "the NDF (will) consolidate its just and reasonable grounds to move forward from the postponement to suspension of the talks, and ultimately, to the termination of the peace negotiations."

It was in August 2002 when the CPP-NPA was first tagged by the US as a "terrorist" organization in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York City and Washington. The EU, Canada and Australia followed suit in branding the rebels as terrorists.

Jalandoni, who is now in Manila for a series of engagements, demanded that the government must assert the country’s sovereign rights, adding that the US should not be allowed to interfere in Philippine domestic problems.

The rebels would not also accept the government’s official position that the "terrorist" listing of the CPP-NPA was a sovereign right of the US and other western states.

Bello earlier stated that the Philippines cannot intrude in the foreign policies of the US government.

But Jalandoni pointed out that Malacañang’s position on the issue was first officially manifested shortly after government negotiators signed an agreement with their rebel counterparts last Feb. 14 in Oslo that both the government and the NDF will "jointly and separately" appeal the "terrorist" tag and demand that foreign states should instead support the peace process.

He added that such a declaration by the Philippine government with regards the "intervention" of the US was tantamount to "surrendering or conceding" the country’s sovereignty.

Besides, rebel leaders have pointed out that no other than the government, particularly Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, who then headed the defense department, lobbied for the "terrorist" label on them.

As such, Jalandoni said, it is also the government’s obligation to appeal its lifting.

Tarlac Gov. Jose Yap said that they are now exerting efforts to convince NDF peace panel members to "reconsider" their unilateral declaration.

Yap, senior consultant of the government panel, was instrumental in convincing Europe-based CPP-NPA-NDF leaders to hold formal peace negotiations with the government during the Ramos administration way back in 1992.

Several significant gains have already been attained in the negotiations that resumed last February after these were suspended by Mrs. Arroyo in mid-2001. Among these are the release of a number of political prisoners, and the implementation by both the government and the NDF of the 1998 Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Yap said that the coming round of talks was significant, as he described the subject for discussion as one that aims to address the root causes of the 35-year-old insurgency. This will be the peace process’ second substantive agenda, which is social and economic reforms.

Administration lawmakers lamented the unilateral decision by the NDF to postpone negotiations until the terror tag on them is lifted "shows their bad faith in the peace process."

But Lakas-CMD Representatives Prospero Pichay and Robert Barbers expressed optimism that the setback was temporary and the President’s peace agenda with the communist insurgents will be realized under her administration. - With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Benjie Villa