Comrade Allan Jasmines must be freed unconditionally
by the Aquino Government*
Valeriano Oriente
Melito Glor Command,
NPA-Southern Tagalog Region
February 17, 2011
The revolutionary forces of Southern Tagalog condemn in the strongest terms the treacherous arrest of Comrade Allan Jasmines and demand for his immediate and unconditional release.
The arrest of Comrade Allan Jasmines last February 14 by the state security forces, hours ahead of the resumption of the formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway between the NDFP and the GPH is a blatant mockery of any sincere intention of the GPH political leadership to find a lasting solution to the present armed conflict.
Comrade Allan Jasmines, being a long-time NDFP consultant to the peace process, is protected by the 1995 Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG)--an agreement that guaranteed duly accredited persons immunity from surveillance, harassment, search, arrest, detention, prosecution and interrogation or any other similar punitive actions due to any involvement or participation in the peace negotiations. It is ironic that despite the prior commitment of the GPH political leadership to uphold and implement the JASIG, the AFP and PNP treacherously and repeatedly undermined and disregarded this agreement.
Either the political leadership of the GPH has no control over the military and police, or the Aquino government is engaging in duplicitous talks with the NDFP--camouflaging its "sincerity" with declarations of Aquino's commitment to peace while the state security forces engaged in overt and covert activities to hunt down the NDFP consultants and personnel to the peace process.
In order for the peace process to succeed, the Aquino's political leadership must demonstrate that it has the political will in finding common grounds with the NDFP in the resolution of the present armed conflict and that it has full control over the militarist elements within the AFP and PNP who are out to sabotage the peace process.
Peace should come with social justice and social justice should come with thoroughgoing socio-political and economic reforms that truly address the root causes of the armed conflict. Unless this framework is achieved, no amount of counter-revolutionary suppression and deception of the Oplan Bantay Laya or Oplan Bayanihan mold can silence the people's resolve to revolution.
* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/02/comrade-allan-jasmines-must-be-freed.html
