Return to peace table to get back immunity, Reds told

Communist insurgent leaders can remain immune from arrest, but only if they return to formal peace negotiations, government negotiators said yesterday.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) through its political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF), withdrew from peace talks last month, saying there was no reason to pursue peace negotiations with the President Arroyo administration because it was on the way out.

The communists said Mrs. Arroyo was going to be ousted soon, either through street protests or an impeachment process that has begun in Congress over allegations she rigged the May 2004 presidential vote.

Due to the withdrawal, immunity and security guarantees for rebel leaders who were part of negotiations were lifted on Wednesday. Rebel leaders were given 30 days to go into hiding or else face arrest.

The two sides had signed the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) that allowed communist leaders to travel freely in the country without fear of arrest during the negotiations.

Rene Sarmiento, head of the government’s negotiating panel, said the JASIG with the communist negotiators could be reinstated.

"It (the arrest threats) can be lifted anytime as we have done in the past if they will show a gesture of sincerity by communicating with us that they’re open to the peace talks within the 30-day grace period," Sarmiento said.

The communists led by CPP founder Jose Maria Sison slammed the suspension of the JASIG, claiming they had not been given formal notice.

"If the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) wants to terminate the JASIG, it must give the NDF a formal notice of termination, signed and authorized by the GRP principal as then President Joseph Estrada did in 1999," Sison said.

Sison claimed there was no such thing as unilateral suspension of the immunity guarantees. If the GRP wants to terminate the agreement, he said, it must extend the proper notice of termination.

"It (GRP) should not forget that certain safety and immunity guarantees and basic civil rights go beyond the 30-day allowance for NDF personnel to seek safety if they are in unsafe positions," he said. — AFP, Jaime Laude