By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is willing to go into serious peace negotiations which address the root causes of the armed conflict through fundamental economic, social and political reforms, in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements. However, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales does not really want peace talks. He only pretends. In fact, he is sabotaging the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. His demand for the capitulation of the NDFP under the guise of a ceasefire without priorly addressing the roots of the armed conflict is calculated to sabotage the peace negotiations.
By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is willing to go into serious peace negotiations which address the root causes of the armed conflict through fundamental economic, social and political reforms, in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration and further agreements.
The NDFP is open to exploratory talks which address and resolve the prejudicial questions, such as the extrajudicial killings and other gross human rights violations, the murder and abduction of NDFP consultants, the unjust “terrorist” listing and the indemnification of victims of human rights violations.
However, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales does not really want peace talks. He only pretends. In fact, he is sabotaging the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. His demand for the capitulation of the NDFP under the guise of a ceasefire without priorly addressing the roots of the armed conflict is calculated to sabotage the peace negotiations.
Preconditioning the resumption of formal talks with capitulation and pacification of the armed revolution is a gross violation of The Hague Joint Declaration.
As head of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), Gonzales has caused the filing of numerous fabricated criminal charges against NDFP negotiators, consultants and staffers in violation of the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). One clear example is the ridiculous multiple murder charge against NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison, myself, other NDFP consultants, Rep. Satur Ocampo and many others in Hilongos, Leyte.
As member of the Cabinet Oversight Committee for Internal Security (COC-IS), Gonzales is accountable for the regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya I and II which have resulted in the more than 860 cases of extrajudicial killings and almost 200 cases of enforced disappearances of progressive legal activists and unarmed civilians. The OBL I and II have caused other gross human rights violations, such as the uprooting and forced displacement of over a million internal refugees.
In November 2003, at informal peace talks in Oslo, when both GRP and NDFP delegations had agreed to the release of political prisoners and the indemnification of human rights victims under the Marcos regime, Norberto Gonzales sabotaged the signing of a joint statement that would have paved the way for the resumption of formal peace talks. He insisted within the GRP delegation: “Let us not release the prisoners! Let us not give them [victims of human rights violations] the money!”
In late 2004, at a high level GRP national security meeting, he made the scandalous proposal that in order to solve all the regime’s problems, they should just have Joma Sison assassinated.
Norberto Gonzales’ rabid anti-Communist mindset is revealed in the anti-communist seminars for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, conducted by Romeo Intengan, SJ, which are authorized by Gonzales and funded by the National Security Council.
His call for a prolonged ceasefire without addressing and resolving the extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations of the regime, ignoring the resolution of the unjust “terrorist” listing of the CPP, the NPA and Prof. Jose Maria Sison, and disregarding the indemnification of victims of human rights violations and the release of political prisoners, is a vain attempt to secure the pacification of the revolutionary forces.
He has no respect for The Hague Joint Declaration and other bilateral agreements between the NDFP and GRP. He has never undertaken any serious effort at achieving a just peace. Instead, he has devoted himself to the sabotage of the peace negotiations.
