Palace assures safety of Jalandoni

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang assured yesterday the safety of National Democratic Front (NDF) chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni, who arrived in Manila earlier this week before the government lifted its suspension of immunity pass for communist leaders.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Jalandoni, who has been on self-exile in the Netherlands since the late 1980s with other NDF leaders, earlier informed the government that he needed to return to Manila to visit a sick relative.

The Palace earlier announced that it was lifting the suspension of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) that gives NDF negotiators immunity from arrest during peace talks.

Most NDF leaders have pending criminal cases in the Philippines, including murder.

Both sides said prospects are good for the resumption of the formal talks next month after a five-year impasse.

“This (sick relative) was made known to the authorities and the least that government can do is to ensure that he (Jalandoni) is safe while here together with the wife (Connie Ledesma) so it has nothing to do whatsoever with whether JASIG is effective or not,” Ermita told reporters.

He said the protection was also a “confidence-building measure” ahead of the expected resumption of negotiations in Norway in August.

Officials said permanent cessation of hostilities would be part of the agenda of the negotiations.

Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process Avelino Razon Jr. said the move of the NDF to put a possibly contentious issue early in the resumption of the talks was a good sign. “Normally, this issue (cessation of hostilities) is placed at the rear (of the talks) but this is a positive development and if they (NDF negotiators) wanted to prolong the negotiations they would have put many other items in the agenda, not that,” Razon said.

He said the agenda of cessation of hostilities already implies disarmament and demobilization of the New People’s Army (NPA).

The NDF is the umbrella organization of all mainstream communist and leftist organizations in the Philippines, including the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The 40-year old communist insurgency in the country has claimed the lives of over 40,000 people.