'Why zero budget for government-NDF talks?'

MANILA, Philippines - One of the groups supporting the resumption of peace talks between the government and the communist led-National Democratic Front (NDF) yesterday asked why the administration of President Aquino did not allocate any budget for its peace overture with the NDF.

In a press statement, the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the “budgetary discrimination” against the government peace talks shows that the Aquino government is not really sincere in pushing the peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA), and its political arm the NDF.

“It is short of saying the peace talks with NDF is never a priority as far as the Aquino government is concerned. And the Manila government anytime is ready to indefinitely suspend or scuttle the talks with the Reds just like what former President Arroyo and her military mafia did from 2005 to 2010,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said.

Hicap lamented that while the peace talks aim to address the roots of armed conflict in the country, this remains a big no on the part of the Aquino government and its ultimate solution is the unbridled escalation of an all-out military offensive against the NDF.

“The peace talks and the resolution of armed conflict are not in the interest of the Aquino government. All it wants is the unjust and bloody war authored and directed by the ruling gangland in Washington D.C. against the Filipino revolutionaries. The zero budget for the peace talks is one of the clear proofs of this political stupidity of the Aquino administration,” added Hicap.

Of the P569.64-million approved budget for the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) for next year, P329 million is allotted for the counter-insurgency project Payapa at Masaganang Mamamayan (Pamana).

Under the project, about 970 communist controlled or influenced barangays will each receive P300,000 to counter communist guerillas under the guise of a “peace and development” program.

The OPAPP also allotted P100 million for the government-MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) peace talks, but the release will depend on the supplemental budget submitted by the government peace agency.

Pamalakaya also agreed with the calls of its staunch ally Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) demanding the immediate and unconditional resignation of OPAPP chief Secretary Ging Deles for allegedly using the office funds to support the presidential campaign of former President Arroyo in 2004.

Like Bayan, Pamalakaya also demanded the abolition of OPAPP and recommended the filing of criminal and other appropriate charges against Deles for using taxpayers’ money to further the political agenda of Arroyo.

At the last joint hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee and the committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation last Oct. 18, OPPAP consultant Ansari Alonto said he and Deles went around Metro Manila to campaign for Arroyo in 2004.

Deles had served as Arroyo’s peace adviser until she resigned along with the so-called “Hyatt 10” in 2005. She returned to her post when Aquino assumed office in 2010.

Alonto said that immediately before the polls from May 7 to May 10, he and Deles went around Metro Manila campaigning for Arroyo because she was losing against her closest rival for the presidency, deceased actor Fernando Poe Jr., who was reportedly leading Arroyo in the Muslim areas, hence the necessity to campaign for her.