LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
As Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic of the Philippines (NDFP), I wish to announce that our consultations with the Norwegian government are productive and are satisfactory to a significant extent.
We commend the Norwegian government for encouraging respect for human rights and principles of justice and supporting projects and efforts in the Philippines that focus attention on human rights, humanitarian law and freedom of speech and expression.
LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
As Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic of the Philippines (NDFP), I wish to announce that our consultations with the Norwegian government are productive and are satisfactory to a significant extent.
We commend the Norwegian government for encouraging respect for human rights and principles of justice and supporting projects and efforts in the Philippines that focus attention on human rights, humanitarian law and freedom of speech and expression.
We are thankful that the Norwegian government continues to support the work of the Joint Secretariat of the Joint Monitoring Committee created by the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
The all-out war policy of the Arroyo regime and the gross human rights violations are obstacles to the resumption of the formal talks in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
The GRP is trying in vain to deceive the people by demanding a permanent or prolonged ceasefire without any prior agreements on social, economic and political reforms that are satisfactory to the people.
We hold the view that the all-out war policy and its concomitant human rights violations, the “terrorist” listing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the NDFP chief political consultant Professor Jose Maria Sison and the regime’s targeting of the NDFP negotiators, consultants, advisors and staffers for assassination and persecution are big obstacles to the resumption of the formal talks.
Those accountable for such violations of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees as listed below should be brought to justice before the resumption of formal talks:
- the murder of NDFP political consultant Sotero Llamas;
- the repeated assassination plans and attempts against NDFP chief political consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison and senior legal adviser UN Judge ad litem Romeo T. Capulong; and
- the arbitrary arrest and detention of regional consultants Edgardo Sacamay, Angelina Ipong, Eduardo Serrano, Rogelio Calubad with his son and Prudencio Calubid, together with his two companions.
While the GRP under the Arroyo regime refuses to engage in formal talks, we will direct internal working committees to study and draft the agreements on social, economic and political reforms, discuss the drafts in seminars with experts and other interested parties, and hold consultations with the people and their organizations. Thus, when they resume, the formal talks shall progress at an accelerated pace.
The broad masses of the people and the revolutionary forces are resisting the all-out war policy of the Arroyo regime and the rampant human rights violations.
