Gov't bucks release of 13 NDF consultants

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is not keen on releasing the 13 consultants of the National Democratic Front (NDF) as a precondition to the Oct. 31 resumption of peace talks in Norway.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacier­da said a new list of persons who may be covered under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) between the government and the communist rebels is not forthcoming.

“It will be foolhardy for us to require them to put up a new JASIG list considering they can put up anyone and say any person’s name in the new JASIG list,” he told Palace reporters in a briefing.

“We presume that there would be no preconditions to the agreement, and now they are putting up a precondition of releasing all the consultants under the JASIG list,” he added.

He said the government is not to blame if the list the NDF earlier presented cannot be read anymore.

“They’re blaming us, for instance, of this particular raid that happened several years back but it’s not our fault. They came up with a list that was faulty and eventually technology made advances which prevented them from decrypting their software,” he said.

He stressed that the government is leaving the issue to chief government negotiator Alex Padilla.

“I believe that both parties share the same aspirations for peace. It’s just the manner by which we try to achieve that resolution. So we leave it with Undersecretary Padilla to resolve the issue,” he said.

The other day, militant lawmakers called for a “general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty” for some 354 political prisoners languishing in various jails throughout the country, including 13 consultants of the NDF.

At least 20 members of the House of Representatives have agreed to co-author a resolution drafted by Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares.