By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
We welcome Amnesty International’s 15 August 2006 report on the Philippines, “Political Killings, Human Rights and the Peace Process”, which condemns the dastardly murder of progressive and leftist activists in the Philippines. We also take note of the recommendations of Amnesty International for the US-backed Arroyo regime to respect human rights, ensure the administration of justice and to comply with the 1998 GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
We welcome Amnesty International’s 15 August 2006 report on the Philippines, “Political Killings, Human Rights and the Peace Process”, which condemns the dastardly murder of progressive and leftist activists in the Philippines. We also take note of the recommendations of Amnesty International for the US-backed Arroyo regime to respect human rights, ensure the administration of justice and to comply with the 1998 GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
The latest AI report comes on the heels of findings from several other international fact-finding missions on the Philippines confirming that the US-Arroyo regime is culpable for the ever-mounting number of murders and more than 180 “desaparecidos” in the country. But Ms. Arroyo chooses to thumb her nose at the widespread clamor for justice and instead continues her tacit endorsement for the bloody carnage.
The renewed call of the Arroyo regime for all-out war against the revolutionary movement will further escalate human rights violations and will only lead to further economic ruin. More than ever, the NDFP reiterates its call for the resumption of peace negotiations directed at addressing the social roots of the armed conflict and demands that the GRP stop the political killing and abductions of legal activists and civilians, and comply with the CARHRIHL and the mutually acceptable principle of national sovereignty contained in The Hague Joint Declaration.
We also reiterate the proposal of the NDFP Human Rights Committee to the GRP Monitoring Committee to form a joint ad-hoc committee, with officials of the Royal Norwegian Government and the International Committee of the Red Cross as observers, for the purpose of conducting joint investigations into the recent cases of disappearances of unarmed civilian activists and captured suspected revolutionaries.
