On political, legal and security requirements for the venue of GRP-NDFP peace negotiations
11 December 2019
By Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
https://ndfp.org/on-political-legal-and-security-requirements-for-the-venue-of-grp-ndfp-peace-negotiations/?fbclid=IwAR1-KR50raUNnJZzsV-g44HEPn60M7CuFCum7jY34OL04agvGIoyEI7rCXg
The standing agreement between the GRP and the NDFP enshrined in the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees JASIG) is to hold GRP-NDFP peace negotiations in a foreign neutral venue.
The NDFP cannot trust any “no arrest ” declaration from the GRP side unless the repressive issuances and campaigns of Duterte are ended, the political prisoners are amnestied and released, the CASER and a bilateral ceasefire are already in place.
Right now, the Duterte regime cannot gain the trust and confidence of the NDFP while it refuses to carry out goodwill measures, such as the release of sickly and elderly political prisoners on humanitarian grounds and engage in reciprocal unilateral ceasefires during the Christmas season up to the first week of New Year.
The regime still retains a militarist and fascist mentality and behavior. It does not even recognize that it does itself a favor by departing from its national and international standing as mass murderer and from the path of fascist tyranny.
After goodwill measures are carried out, informal meetings can be conducted in a foreign neutral venue in order to prepare the formal meeting to resume the peace negotiations abroad, which will reaffirm the agreements made since 1992 and overcome such repressive measures as Proclamation 360 and 374, Memorandum Order 32 and Executive Order No. 70.
The NDFP cannot submit itself to any situation and process in which it comes under the duress, control and surveillance by the armed minions of Duterte.
The Duterte regime has to prove that it is not merely trying to put the NDFP in a trap in which his armed minions can murder consultants like the late Randy Felix Malayao and arrest them on trumped up charges and with planted firearms like Vicente Ladlad, Rey Casambre, Reynante Gamara, Adel Silva, Alex Birondo, his wife Nona and others in violation of JASIG.
There is hard work ahead for negotiators and consultants in informal and formal meetings for the peace negotiations to move forward. The negotiating panels headed by Secretary Bello and Fidel Agcaoili are conscientious and competent. If there are no disruptions and terminations from Duterte himself as in the past three years, they can do their work effectively and at the proper pace.
Two warring parties are expected by the people and the peace advocates to negotiate peace. It is important to recognize the dangers and pitfalls and to take precautions. It is necessary to fulfill certain political, legal and security requirements.
The NDFP is under no obligation to negotiate with a regime that is already discredited and is running out of time. The revolutionary movement is advancing. But the NDFP is demonstrating to the people in the Philippines and the world that it takes every chance to negotiate even with its enemy and avail of any step possible to move forward towards the goal of just peace.
