Gov’t blames Reds for scuttling of talks

The government yesterday blamed communist rebels of scuttling the resumption of Norwegian-brokered peace negotiations due to “unreasonable” demands by the armed group.

Razon said the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People¡¯s Army¡¯s political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF), sought for the immediate release of 10 more captured rebels a few days before the scheduled resumption of formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway last Aug. 28.

“We were taken aback by this sudden NDF announcement after the Philippine government has accommodated the NDF request to release two ranking communist leaders, Randall Echanis and Elizabeth Principe, from detention, and now they are demanding for the freeing of 10 more of their comrades under detention,” Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Avelino Razon Jr. said.

The release of Echanis and Principe was ordered by the court, but Razon said “we cannot just release the others without proper court order.”

“We have to follow our judicial system,” he said.

The NDF has charged the government with refusing to release detained consultants and to dismiss all charges leveled against them. It also said the government was putting the issue of “disarmament, demobilization and reintegration” on top of the agenda, which the NDF rejected initially.

The Maoist insurgent movement, whose membership ballooned to more than 26,000 in the mid-1980s, has dwindled to 5,000 armed members, according to military estimates.

A final peace agreement is expected to end more than 40 years of armed communist rebellion in the Philippines.

Razon said he was also surprised by the NDF allegation that the government is setting aside discussion on socio-economic reform (SER).

“The GRP is prepared top discuss this matter by forming a reciprocal working committee which has been conducting regular meeting to prepare for the SER negotiations,” he said.

Razon also asked the NDF to discuss end of hostilities as a goal of any peace process.

“The NDF refusal to discuss this is a signal that they are not serious in pursuing the peace negotiations,” he stressed.

The NDF has tapped 14 personalities, including two ranking communist leaders ¨C Rafael Baylosis and Vicente Ladlad, who are at large, as their “consultants” during the peace talks.

“The NDF¡¯s unreasonable demand to release them before formal talks can resume is a blatant abuse of the peace table to get concession they cannot get anywhere else,” Razon said, noting that the government cannot undermine its own justice system, nor allow the use of the peace table for quick fixes.

He said Baylosis and Ladlad have refused to come out from the open despite the lifting of the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) last July 17.

Under the JASIG, all duly accredited persons in possession of documents of identification or safe conduct passes are guaranteed free and unhindered passages in all areas in the Philippines, and in traveling to and from the Philippines in connection with the performance of their duties in the peace negotiations.

Razon assured that the government will honor and respect the JASIG, saying “we are sincere to end the armed conflict.”

He said that the 14 NDF consultants have pending criminal charges against them, ranging from multiple murders to kidnapping and robbery in band in various Philippine courts.

He said the government peace panel headed by former Labor Secretary Nieves Confesor “cannot just decide on its own to release these people, because only the courts can make such an order after due process.”

“Let the courts decide on the merits of each case. We cannot circumvent the law,” Razon said. –Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune