NDF rejects gov’t bid to set preconditions for negotiations

Communist rebels rejected yesterday a government move to make peace talks conditional on a ceasefire pact, saying this request violated existing mutual agreements.

In a statement, National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panel chair Luis Jalandoni singled out Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and accused him of "unfairly laying the burden" of resuming formal peace talks on the revolutionary movement by calling on the New People’s Army to sign a ceasefire agreement. The NPA is the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) military arm.

Jalandoni said Romulo’s proposal threatened to scuttle the decades-old peace negotiations.

Romulo is a member of the national security cluster of the Arroyo Cabinet which gives recommendations to the President on matters pertaining to peace talks with communist and Muslim separatist rebels.

"He (Romulo) diverts attention from the fact that the government has maliciously refused to comply with its obligations in accordance with agreements that have been signed by the GRP and the NDFP negotiating panels and approved by their respective principals and which are therefore binding and effective," said Jalandoni.

But for the military, a cessation of hostilities must take place in order for talks to resume.

This was the position taken by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on the NDF’s refusal to commit to a ceasefire agreement prior to formal negotiations.

Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual, AFP Public Information Office chief, immediately clarified that the stand of the military is not official.

"It is incumbent upon the government peace panel to decide. Whatever their decision, it has the full support and backing of the AFP," Pascual said.

"The AFP sees the logic of the government panel in proposing a ceasefire agreement as it builds an atmosphere of trust and confidence between the two sides," he pointed out.

The military official cited the success of ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which he credited to a ceasefire declaration.

But according to Jalandoni, the government violated the principle of national sovereignty "and the principle on non-capitulation stipulated in The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992" by conniving with the United States in listing the CPP and NPA as terrorist groups.

The communist leader claimed the terrorist listing also violates the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee signed and approved in 1995. "This provides safety and immunity to all those involved in the peace negotiations."

He added this transgresses the Hernandez political offense doctrine and basic democratic rights provided for in the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

Meanwhile, the military maintained that, without a truce, they would continue with anti-insurgency operations.

One senior military official, however, advised the government to be careful in dealing with the NDF.

He warned that the NDF’s rejection of the ceasefire offer showed that the communists were not really interested in peacefully settling the decades-long Maoist conflict.

$17-M Dev’t Aid For Mindanao

In another development, the government and the United Nations along with the Australian government announced a AU$17 million project that will further consolidate peace and development in Mindanao through continued assistance to areas formerly held by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), now known as "peace and development communities."

The MNLF was formerly the largest Muslim separatist rebel group until it signed a peace pact with the government in 1996.

A ceremonial signing for the five-year Action for Conflict Transformation (ACT) for Peace Program was held Monday night at the EDSA Shangri-La by UN resident coordinator and United Nations Development Program resident representative Deborah Landey, Australian Ambassador Tony Hely and top Philippine government officials led by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who signed on behalf of President Arroyo.

The grant of AU$17 million (approximately P714 million) was committed by the Australian Agency for International Development.

A successor to the United Nations Multi-Donor Program, the ACT for Peace Program will formally take off in June with the end goal of strengthening peace-building efforts and sustaining the gains for peace and development in the southern Philippines.

The program will be implemented by the Mindanao Economic Development Council, being the overall implementing agency, in partnership with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao regional government.

A total of 15 provinces and 14 cities identified as post-conflict and conflict-affected areas in Southern Philippines originally within the former Special Zone of Peace and Development are covered under the program.

The program shall also respond to other conflict-vulnerable areas such as the Caraga region. In the next five years, the program will specifically sustain the transformation of peace and development communities and other conflicted areas in Mindanao. — With Jaime Laude