Details of botched P-Noy, communist leader's meeting bared

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino and communist leader Jose Maria Sison were supposed to meet last month but this did not push through due to differences between the two negotiating panels.

This was revealed on Wednesday by the National Democratic Front (NDF) in a report that detailed how the government supposedly scuttled what could have been a historic meeting between the two leaders.

NDF said political affairs adviser Sec. Ronald Llamas proposed a meeting between Aquino and Sison, who serves as the NDF’s chief political consultant. The meeting was supposed to take place in Hanoi early this year.

The NDF claimed the meeting failed to push through owing to the government’s refusal to release rebels who claim to be peace consultants.

Another issue that reportedly plagued the talks is the “government’s scheme of simultaneous, unilateral and indefinite ceasefires” which, the NDF said, would allow security forces to continue violence.

NDF said the proposed meeting between Aquino and Sison was just a “mere ploy or bait” to convince its negotiators to sign a government draft declaration in just one or two meetings.

“The GPH has deliberately refused to comply with its commitments in agreements forged with the NDF, despite the full knowledge that compliance would immediately break the impasse and cause the resumption of the formal talks,” NDF said.

The communists also scored the government for refusing to release their supposed peace consultants who are said to be covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

The agreement provides immunity from arrest to NDF peace consultants. Some of the alleged peace consultants are leaders of the New People’s Army who are facing criminal cases.

“NDF representatives demanded the release of political prisoners, detained NDF consultants and JASIG-protected persons, as well as the investigation of the disappearances and killings of NDF consultants,” the NDF report read.

“The GPH representatives simply stonewalled by saying that they had no mandate to discuss such matters,” it added.

NDF said the non-compliance with the agreements would block the resumption of formal talks.

In July 2011, negotiators from the communists and the government went to The Netherlands to determine if the NDF’s jailed consultants were covered by the JASIG.

They agreed to open a sealed envelope stored in a safety deposit box kept by the parties eight years ago in a bank. The envelope was supposed to hold the photos and aliases of the consultants.

The envelope, however, did not contain actual photos of alleged NDF consultants using their aliases, but only diskettes allegedly containing photos that could not be decrypted.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said the NDF’s failure to comply with the terms of the verification mechanism rendered the JASIG inoperative.