Gov't to Reds: We have freed 5 NDF 'consultants,' how about you?

MANILA, Philippines - While the government has released five of their “alleged consultants” in good faith while the peace talks are ongoing, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF) did otherwise by seizing four jail guards and a Surigao del Sur mayor.

This was the gist of the statement chief government negotiator Alex Padilla released to the media yesterday, debunking insinuations of the CPP-NDF and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), that the government has been “delaying the peace negotiations.”

“They have continued to demand releases of their alleged consultants before proceeding to all-important talks on substantive reforms,” Padilla said, adding it was the CPP-NPA-NDF that “unilaterally postponed” the bilateral talks in June.

While it was verifying the identities of the supposed NDF consultants that state forces arrested, the government did in good faith “released five of their (CPP-NDF’s) priority alleged consultants,” Padilla said.

This was in contrast to the NPA’s kidnapping of four guards of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and Mayor Henry Dano of Lingig, Surigao del Sur and two of his military bodyguards – who are all non-combatants, he said.

“The failure was theirs and theirs alone,” Padilla said.

While they were talking peace in good faith, the communist rebels “unfortunately responded by (seizing) four BJMP personnel and kidnapping Mayor Dano and two of his security escorts as well as escalating the levels of violence in Mindanao and Masbate,” he added.

This is apart from the withdrawal of information against the so-called “Morong 43,” and the release of the medical personnel who were arrested by the military on suspicion of being rebels. They denied being communists but have been showing clenched fists, Padilla said.

“Our negotiations have already gone 24 years and only one of four substantive agreements has been signed,” he said.

According to Padilla, it was wrong for the CPP-NDF-NPA to claim that talks about the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RWCs-SER) should not push through if their detained colleagues are not freed. 

“They conveniently hid the fact that in accordance with the Oslo Joint Statement of 21 February 2011, releases are subject to verification,” Padilla said.