By CPP Information Bureau
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today released the following statement:
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) reiterates its demand for the Aquino regime and its armed forces to immediately release Alan Jazmines, peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Jazmines is currently detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) custodial center in Camp Crame and will be marking his first year in detention on 14 February.
Jazmines was arrested a year ago in outright violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and in total contempt of the peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDFP.
His arrest on 14 February 2011, was conducted on the very eve of the resumption of NDFP-GPH formal peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway. Acting on orders from the AFP echelon, the commanding officer of the joint AFP and PNP team that arrested Jazmines disregarded his identification as an NDFP consultant immune from arrest. The JASIG exempts peace talks consultants and personnel of both the GPH and NDFP from surveillance and arrest by either side.
Aquino shows a complete lack of compassion in prolonging Jazmines’ detention. Jazmines is 65 years old and suffers from severe hypertension. Even while in detention, Jazmines is being subjected to harassment by police personnel, having been threatened thrice with being transferred to Camp Bicutan. His family and friends are always having a hard time bringing in letters, reading materials and other legitimate items to his detention cell.
The Aquino regime’s prolonged incarceration of Jazmines and failure to act on the clamor for the release of a total of 13 NDFP peace consultants show its low regard for the peace negotiations. The Aquino regime is completely aware that the continued detention of Jazmines and other NDFP peace consultants who were arrested treacherously and in violation of peace agreements, is among the biggest stumbling blocks to the resumption of formal peace negotiations.
The Aquino regime has repeatedly reneged on its promise to release Jazmines and other consultants of the NDFP. In distorts and misinterprets the JASIG and other standing agreements between the GPH and the NDFP in order to justify its prolonged detention of NDFP peace consultants and prevent the resumption of peace negotiations.
For the GPH, peace negotiations with the NDFP now only serve as a publicity gimmick to camouflage the Aquino regime’s ongoing brutal campaign of suppression under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)’s Oplan Bayanihan. Behind the rhetoric of “peace and human rights”, the Aquino regime’s fascist troops have been committing gross violations of human rights and imposing a reign of terror in the countryside in desperate hopes of putting an end to the people’s democratic and revolutionary resistance.