By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
Press Statement
4 February 2005
US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone is the representative of the No. 1 terrorist power in the world and in the entire history of humanity. And yet he shamelessly tries to misrepresent as “terrorist” the revolutionary forces of the Filipino people’s movement for national liberation and democracy against US imperialism and the local exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords.
Until now, the US has neither apologized nor paid its blood debts for the killing of 1.5 million Filipinos from February 4, 1899 (the start of the Filipino-American war, which we Filipinos should remember today) to 1913 (the end of the pacification campaigns) and for instigating and propping up the Marcos fascist dictatorship from 1972 to 1986.
The people of Asia can never forget the US criminal responsibility for killing 4 million Koreans in the Korean war, 6 million Vietnamese in the Vietnam war and 1.5 million Indonesians in 1965 in order to preserve and enlarge the interests of the US, Dutch and British oil companies.
Only a terrorist power like the US can be so perverse as to describe the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the murder of more than 100,000 Iraqi people as “spreading freedom” and “peace making”. The US imperialists are war criminals violating the UN charter and unleashing aggression on the basis of their big lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and links with Al Qaeda..
The US has sabotaged the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) by designating and listing the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army as “terrorist” and by seeking to generate conditions for the escalation of US military intervention and building of military stations and bases under the pretext of anti-terrorism.
In the process, the GRP has clearly proven itself as an incorrigible puppet, incapable of complying with agreements with the NDFP, by colluding with the US in using the “terrorist” listing for the dual purpose of blackmailing the NDFP towards capitulation and for paving the way for the escalation of US military intervention.
1. The GRP has violated the principle of national sovereignty in the The Hague Joint Declaration by proclaiming that the US and other governments have all the sovereign right to interfere in Philippine affairs and make judgments on strictly Philippine matters.
2. The GRP violates the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees by encouraging the US and other foreign governments to threaten, harass, punish and hold in hostage negotiators, consultants and staffers of the NDFP Negotiating Panel who are based in Europe.
3. The GRP violates the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law by allowing the US and other foreign governments to attack the democratic rights of Filipinos, especially the Hernandez political offense doctrine which prohibits the charge of common crimes against revolutionaries.
The US and GRP are poised to end the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations because they know that the NDFP will never submit to any scheme of capitulation and pacification under any guise. Thus, the GRP is now arrogantly flaunting its bad faith in pretending to negotiate with the NDFP. It is completely exposing its unwillingness to comply with obligations stipulated in mutually approved agreements.###
