Fate of talks in gov’t hands, says NDF negotiator Jalandoni

The ball is now in the government’s court.

The leadership of the mainstream communist movement said the fate of the peace process between the state and communist rebels now depends on the actions the government will take regarding their demands, foremost of which is the lifting of the US-instigated "terrorist" tag on the rebels.

Defrocked Catholic priest Luis Jalandoni, peace panel chairman of the National Democratic Front (NDF), said they are still waiting for the Arroyo administration to act on their request for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue an opinion on the "terrorist" listing, and for President Arroyo to come out with an official statement on the matter, and for Manila to make diplomatic representations with Washington and the Council Common of the 15-nation European Union (EU) regarding the terrorist tag.

The NDF, whose negotiators are mostly based in Europe, declared a postponement of fourth round of formal talks this year, which is scheduled this week in Oslo, Norway following the US government’s decision early this month to keep the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), on its list of "foreign terrorist organizations." The NDF is the CPP-NPA’s political umbrella organization.

Washington first included the rebel movement in its international terrorist watch-list in August 2002 following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. The listing was later adopted by the EU and the Canadian and Australian governments.

Because of this, self-exiled CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison, who is also the NDF panel’s chief political consultant, declared that the rebels have decided to "indefinitely postpone" the peace talks.

Sison was affected the most by the "terrorist" tag, as the Dutch government suspended in late 2002 all the financial, social, housing and medical benefits it had previously extended to him as a "political refugee" seeking asylum in Europe.

Jalandoni has warned that if the government continues not to act on their demands, the NDF is likely to move for the eventual suspension of the talks.

Jalandoni, who is based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where the NDF maintains its international relations office, is now in the Philippines using a safe-conduct pass that guarantees his protection from arrest as chairman of the rebel peace panel. According to Sison, a suspension of the talks would actually bring the peace process to the brink of collapse.

He maintained that appealing the listing is the primary responsibility of Malacañang, pointing out that it was Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, then the defense chief, who lobbied for this before Washington while the talks were suspended by President Arroyo from mid-2001 to early this year.

It was late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople who led a high-level diplomatic mission that convinced the European council to also consider the CPP-NPA-NDF a "terrorist" group.

Other conditions that the NDF wants the government to fulfill are for the President to order the release of nearly 300 "political detainees" identified with the mainstream leftist movement and ensure the eventual indemnification of the over 10,000 human rights victims of the martial law regime out of ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos which is held in escrow.

The rebels have reiterated their demands after NPA guerrillas operating in the Bicol Region turned over to the government and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last Wednesday Army 1Lt. Ronaldo Fidelino and Pfc. Ronnel Nemeño, who were held captive as "prisoners-of-war" by the communist movement for nearly six months.

Jalandoni signed the NPA release papers for the two soldiers, who were snatched by rebels who staged an ambush on a government position last March 1 in Tinambac, Camarines Sur.

Fidelino and Nemeño were released by the communists on "humanitarian grounds."

The snag caused by the US "terrorist" listing came after major advances were already achieved by both government and rebel negotiators in the peace talks.

Both panels achieved the implementation in June of the 1998 Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and completed initial discussions on the proposed Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), the negotiations’ second substantive agenda.

The communist rebels have been waging an armed revolution for the last 35 years that seeks to establish a socialist Philippine state, making the conflict Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency.

Jalandoni earlier admitted that the Maoist-inspired rebellion may not win in the near future, but insisted that theirs is not yet a lost cause.

He even suggested that the CPP-NPA-NDF may enter into a "coalition" with the government, but this was flatly rejected by Malacañang.

With a fighting force of nearly 10,000 spread over more than a hundred guerrilla fronts across the country, the communist movement remains to a major threat to internal security.

However, Jalandoni also said a truce between the communist insurgents and the government is still possible if the government will comply with the communists’ demands.

Speaking at the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo breakfast forum, Jalandoni said that the delisting of the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group "could take place within two weeks. Then the peace talks could resume two to three weeks later. If there is no compliance, we cannot set a schedule."

He also said it would take a few more years for the communist insurgency to end, adding that NPA forces will not easily give up their fight to establish a socialist state.

"We don’t expect it (a communist victory) in the near future," Jalandoni said. "It would take a long effort to build a mass base, to build the organs of political power, to develop the strength of the NPA."

"We are ready for a longer-term struggle (and are) not thinking that there will be a quick victory," he added. "We are on the right path and we will be able to achieve victory... we will not give up."

He also clarified reports saying the NDF is favorable to sharing power with the government.

"I was misquoted on that," Jalandoni said. "I was asked about the possibility of having a political authority that would be acceptable both for us and the government for the implementation of political and social reforms."

"I said it will give the illusion that there is only one government, which is the GRP, and that the NDF wants to enter into a coalition government," he added. "Actually, there are two existing governments, the revolutionary government of workers and peasants based in the countryside and the reactionary government of big landlords and compradors centered in Manila."

Jalandoni said the NDF is not asking to join any coalition government. — With Mike Frialde