Obligations Under Signed Agreements Must Be Complied With -NDF

Obligations Under Signed Agreements Must Be Complied With*

Fidel V. Agcaoili
NDFP Negotiating Panel
22 August 2011

Atty. Alexander Padilla, Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH), is foolish in hurling false and vicious accusations against the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The Joint Statements signed in January and February 2011 in Oslo, Norway, between the GPH and the NDFP, clearly stipulate that the GPH shall release most or all of the 17 NDFP personnel protected under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), before the second round of formal talks in June 2011. It is now August 2011 and there are still 13 JASIG-protected individuals in prison.

The GPH is under obligation to comply with signed agreements, if it expects the NDFP to enter into an agreement on social and economic reforms. The GPH must have palabra de honor and release most or all of the JASIG-protected individuals before the rescheduled second round of talks in September which it has itself proposed to the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) in a letter dated 15 July 2011. There is a Tagalog saying that concretely applies to the present situation: ang balasubas ay kailanma'y di mapagkakatiwalaan (one who reneges on agreements can never be trusted).

In shooting down the NDFP offer of truce and alliance, Atty. Padilla has also foolishly misinterpreted the offer given that is based on the Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace. It is obvious that Atty. Padilla is hellbent on scuttling the peace negotiations, both its regular and special tracks.

For the information of Atty. Padilla, the regional authorities of the revolutionary movement have the right to hold Lingig Mayor Henry Dano for investigation for actively participating in military operations against the people. Mayor Dano shall be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the people's democratic government.

Atty. Padilla should stop accusing the NDFP of what the GPH is precisely doing – holding hostage the JASIG-protected individuals to extract concessions from the NDFP or set preconditions for the second round of talks. He should instead recognize the clear obligations of the GPH under signed agreements. But thanks to his foolish talk, the NDFP is now duly forewarned of the malicious intention of the GPH in the peace negotiations.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/obligations-under-signed-agreements.html

GPH is accountable for putting to risk the safety of NPA captives by launching full-scale military offensives -NDF

GPH is accountable for putting to risk the safety of NPA captives

by launching full-scale military offensives*

Rubi del Mundo
NDFP-Southern Mindanao
21 August 2011

Not only is Alex Padilla lost in a daydream, he also wants to obfuscate the revolutionary movement’s record of handling prisoners of war and those accused and held under its own legal and judicial system. In the process, he is endangering the lives of the GPH members because of military offensives in the region.

This was the contention of Rubi del Mundo, spokesperson for the National Democratic Front-Southern Mindanao, in reaction to the recent pronouncement of the GPH peace panel chief who called it a “blackmail” and “bad precedence” to negotiate for the release of the four PNP/BJMP personnel prisoners of war and arrested GPH Mayor Henry Dano and two military intelligence escorts.

“The GPH is engaged in treachery, where on one hand, it is on a murderous rampage, with its AFP scouring the countryside in various acts of reprisal and offensive military operations, using as dubious pretext the so-called rescue operation for the NPA captives, while on the other hand, it is foisting the issue as blackmail in the non-resumption of the peace negotiations with the NDFP,” del Mundo said.

The 75th, 28th, 67th, 66th Infantry Battalions and the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion of the Philippine Army and PNP contingents are using “rescue operations” for GPH Mayor Dano and two escorts to cover up its fascist offensives against the peasant communities in the towns of Lingig, Boston, Monkayo, Cateel, Bagangga, Trento and Mangagoy. In the towns of Kitaotao, Kibawe, Arakan, Magpet and Makilala, the 8th, 57th and 61st Infantry Battalions are also engaged in offensive actions in search of the PNP/BJMP POWs.

Del Mundo scoffed at the AFP and the US-Aquino regime “for mercilessly endangering the lives of the prisoners of war and the three arrested while maliciously demanding for the unconditional release of the latter.”

“The GPH is accountable for putting to risk the safety and security of the NPA captives by ordering the full-scale military offensives, by refusing to acknowledge the Geneva Conventions-mandated protective status of the four PNP/BJMP personnel, and by ignoring the status of GPH Mayor Dano who enjoys his rights while under custodial investigation.”

The revolutionary movement has a long history of dealing with prisoners of war and those accused who were arrested for various crimes, a track record which “Mr. Padilla wants to gloss over in a veiled attempt to belittle the achievements of the people’s democratic government in upholding international humanitarian law and its own legal and judicial process,” del Mundo said.

Contrary to a news report stating otherwise, GPH Mayor Dano was able to call his wife on the evening of August 15. In respecting his legal rights as an accused, the NPA custodial force facilitated the communication between the couple, since GPH Mayor Dano was concerned that his wife -- who has a heart ailment -- would be unduly worried over his situation.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/gph-is-accountable-for-putting-to-risk.html

GPH negotiating panel chairperson Padilla gives notice of no formal talks next month -NDF

GPH negotiating panel chairperson Padilla gives notice

of no formal talks next month*

Fidel Agcaoili
Spokesperson,
NDFP Negotiating Panel
20 August 2011

As spokesperson of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), I am obliged to answer the press statements of Alex Padilla of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines(GDP) which reveal publicly the contents of his letter to the NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni dated 19 August 2011. In due time, the latter shall send his reply.

In said letter, Padilla gives notice to Jalandoni that there will be no formal talks of the panels in Oslo next month and indefinitely until the reciprocal working committees on CASER shall have completed the common tentative agreement on social and economic reforms. He also declares that before then, there shall be no formal talks between the panels about issues involving the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), including the reconstruction of the list of DI holders under JASIG.

He insists that the GPH has no obligation under JASIG or under the Oslo Joint Statements of 2011 to release most or all of the JASIG-protected persons before what should have been the second round of formal talks last June or next September and no NDFP personnel shall enjoy the protection of JASIG until formal talks are made possible by the completion of the common tentative agreement on social and economic forms.

The GPH position expressed in writing by Padilla brazenly violates the JASIG and the entire peace process and alerts the NDFP that the GPH is already scuttling the peace negotiations. We also take notice that Padilla has scorned the NDFP offer of alliance and truce and is shooting it down in a press statement today.

Now, we fully understand why Padilla has been issuing press releases every day like an extremely irresponsible and provocative psywar agent of the reactionary armed forces and not as a negotiator with some amount of dignity and political sense.

We thank him for unwittingly justifying the determination of the armed revolutionary movement to defend the people against worsening exploitation and oppression and the escalating campaigns of military suppression, which are propagandized by the US-directed Aquino regime as peace and development operations.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/gph-negotiating-panel-chairperson.html

The GPH is responsible for prolonging the peace negotiations through long interruptions and violations of agreements

The GPH is responsible for prolonging the peace negotiations through long interruptions and violations of agreements*

Fidel V. Agcaoili
NDFP Negotiating Panel
19 August 2011

Atty. Alexander Padilla, Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly designated as the GRP), has the penchant for blaming the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) of among others prolonging the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations supposedly for 25 years since 1986.

What are the facts as reflected in the time line study of the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations?

There were no peace negotiations during the Cory Aquino regime. There were merely ceasefire negotiations which resulted in a short-lived Ceasefire Agreement. The negotiating panels of both sides were still trying to hammer out an agenda for peace negotiations when the massacre of peasants calling for genuine land reform occurred on 22 January 1987 and the ceasefire broke down. The massacre was followed by the “unsheathing of the sword of war” by Mrs. Aquino in March 1987.

It took more than five (5) years and six (6) months after March 1987 before The Hague Joint Declaration (THJD) was signed on 1 September 1992. This should have led to further preparations for the opening of the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations but Ramos in self-contradiction created the National Unification Commission to prevent such preparations.

It was only in 1994 when the GPH formed its negotiating panel to engage its NDFP counterpart in further preliminary talks and forge, among others, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Joint Agreement on the Formation, Sequence and Operationalization of the Reciprocal Working Committees (RWCs).

These agreements, together with The Hague Joint Declaration, paved the way for the opening of the formal peace negotiations on 26 June 1995 in Brussels, Belgium upon the facilitation of the Belgian Government. Strictly speaking, the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations started sixteen years ago, not 25 years ago.

From 1 September 1992 (signing of THJD) to 15 February 2011 (opening of the formal talks under the Benigno Aquino III regime), there were only 34 interface meetings in formal and informal talks between the GPH and NDFP negotiating panels which involved a total of 128 days. There were also the normal recesses in between rounds of formal talks which totaled around eleven months.

On the other hand, there have been 12 interruptions, all of which were at the instance of the GPH except for one by the NDFP. This was in August 2004 when the NDFP postponed the formal talks scheduled on that month to give time for the GPH to comply with its obligations under THJD, the JASIG, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and the 2004 First and Second Oslo Joint Statements.

Among the major interruptions initiated by the GPH from 1992 to 2011 were:

1. The nearly two (2) years of interruption (1 September 1992 till June 1994) imposed by the Ramos regime after the formation of the National Unification Commission (NUC) on 16 September 1992.

2. After the appointment of Howard Dee as the GPH negotiating panel chairperson, he caused further interruptions by unilaterally making declarations of suspension, indefinite recess and collapse which totaled almost two (2) years, including a one year suspension (June 1995 to June 1996) because Gen. Renato de Villa refused to release Sotero Llamas, a Document of Identification (DI) holder under the JASIG.

3. The more than two (2) years of interruption instigated by the Joseph Estrada regime when it suspended the peace negotiations on 24 February 1999 and officially terminated these on 31 May 1999 and declared all-out-war against the revolutionary movement (the termination ended in March 2001).

4. A total of more than eight (8) years of suspension (from September 2001 to September 2003 and from December 2004 to December 2010) by the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime when it tried to defeat and/or render irrelevant the revolutionary movement by carrying out military suppression campaigns in the countryside and urban areas, accompanied by widespread and systematic violations of human rights against residents of communities and members of legal democratic organizations, through Oplan Bantay Laya I and II.

These four major interruptions come to a total of 14 years (excluding the five years and six months during the Cory Aquino regime). Together with other GPH interruptions, more than 21 years were wasted by the GPH since 1987 in attempting to resolve the armed conflict in the country militarily and to impose its will on the NDFP across the negotiating table.

The GPH should comply with all signed agreements in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations instead of raising irrelevant issues to avoid obligations under, or worse, negate these agreements. Only for the second time in June 2011 did the NDFP call for the postponement of formal talks between the negotiating panels because the GPH failed to fulfill its obligation to release all or most of the 17 JASIG-protected individuals before said month. The recurrent problem is that the GPH does not fulfill its obligation and comply with agreements.

The NDFP has no interest in prolonging the peace negotiations. It recognizes the military superiority of the GPH in terms of personnel and resources and the harm that such power has been wreaking on the people in the countryside and urban areas. But the Filipino people must continue to defend themselves against the violence of the reactionary state, hold their destiny in their own hands, and fight for an independent, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous Philippines.

The GPH must exercise strong political will in addressing the roots of the armed conflict. It must agree to carry out basic social, economic and political reforms in the country. The GPH must exhibit patriotism, if it has any, and must respect the national and democratic rights and interests of the Filipino people, especially in these times of grave crisis which goads the people to resist. It should formally reply to the proposal of the NDFP for a round of formal talks in Oslo in September 2011 and to the offer of truce and alliance on the basis of the ten-point Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/gph-is-responsible-for-prolonging-peace.html

Irresponsible talk by GPH does disservice to the Peace Talks

Irresponsible talk by GPH does disservice to the Peace Talks*

Fidel V. Agcaoili
Spokesperson, Negotiating Panel,
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
16 August 2011

The Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly designated as the GRP) has really gone berserk in its extremely irresponsible disinformation campaign against the revolutionary movement in connection with the recent arrest of four (4) Prisoners of War (POWs) and three detainees under the custody of the New People's Army (NPA) in Mindanao.

The GPH wants to hide the fact that it still has more than 350 political prisoners under its custody who have either been charged or convicted with common crimes in violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and have suffered torture while undergoing interrogation and in detention.

These political prisoners have been on hunger strike since 25 July 2011, prompting Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, head of the National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to call for the “immediate and unconditional release of those whose arrests are deemed to be politically motivated” and “have already served long and completely unjust sentences.”

Among the political prisoners are the 13 remaining individuals protected under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) whose releases have long been overdue – before the second round of formal talks slated in June 2011 as provided for in the 21 February 2011 Joint Statement signed in Oslo, Norway between the GPH and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The GPH is bound in solemn agreement to expeditiously release all, if not most, of the 17 JASIG protected individuals by June 2011.

It is now August 2011, yet only four of the 17 have been released. So I ask Atty. Alexander Padilla, Chairman of the GPH Negotiating Panel: which side is delaying the resumption of the second round of formal talks? The GPH should immediately comply with signed agreements and not engage in dilatory tactics in an attempt to exert pressure on the NDFP.

Moreover, the Aquino regime deliberately glosses over the fact that it has been condoning the culture of impunity in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and their paramilitary groups (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units/CAFGUs and Civilian Volunteers Organizations/CVOs). Such tolerance is manifested in the failure to bring to justice the human rights violators under the Arroyo regime and to address the continuing violations of human rights under its own rule.

Under the Aquino regime, human rights groups have already documented 50 cases of extra-judicial killings and eight (8) cases of disappearances from 30 June 2010 to 31 July 2011 – the most recent of which involved three peasant organizers in Negros Occidental last 19 July.

There have also been a spate of arrests of peasant and labor organizers – most recently in La Union and Batangas – as well as surveillance, harassment, threats and attacks on human rights groups and advocates. For example, it is now deemed an “act inimical to national security” to render assistance to human rights groups as evidenced by the resolution of the National Police Commission signed by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, depriving a local official of administrative control over the police for helping a local human rights group.

Under Oplan Bayanihan, the Aquino regime continues the practice of the previous regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya in attacking communities and deploying thousands of troops in areas suspected to be under the influence, control or supportive of the revolutionary movement. These troops base themselves in schools, health centers, church premises, barangay halls and civilian houses. They conduct surveillance and interrogation of the populace under the guise of census-taking and civic action. They actively recruit members into the CAFGUs and CVOs and set-up Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN).

They harass, threaten, arrest and torture people, including children, who oppose their presence and recruitment and protest their rowdy behavior during their daily drinking sessions which often lead to the indiscriminate shooting of work animals and houses. They molest local women, restrict the free movement of residents and the flow of food into the community, thereby disrupting the normal lives of the people during planting and harvesting seasons and the education of schoolchildren. They act as occupying troops over these communities.

The Aquino regime should not begrudge the New People's Army (NPA) for having the capability to arrest four (4) armed components of its counterrevolutionary and coercive apparatus, and an abusive local official and his two bodyguards who are deemed to have taken active part in military operations against the revolutionary forces.

The NDFP is a legitimate national liberation movement and a co-belligerent in the ongoing armed conflict in the country within the purview of international law and international humanitarian law. As a principled revolutionary organization, the NDFP represents 17 allied organizations and local organs of political power that are present throughout the country in urban and rural areas and in more than 120 guerrilla fronts with a mass base running into millions and an armed force operating nationwide under the guidance of a central political authority that functions within the framework of the Guide for Establishing the People's Democratic Government.

As Atty. Padilla knows very well, the NDFP has acquired such status of belligerency by dint of hard struggle since a long time ago against the US-Marcos fascist dictatorship. He should ask Atty. Marvic Leonen of this fact and point of international law. Such status was not bestowed by any entity external to the revolutionary movement. Direct or implied recognition by any foreign State merely enhances such status inherent in the people's revolutionary government.

Atty. Padilla should be reminded that there are two governments in the Philippines. One is the revolutionary government of workers and peasants based in the countryside and the other is the reactionary government of big compradors and landlords represented by Mr. Aquino in Manila. The NDFP Negotiating Panel has always declared that it represents the revolutionary organs of democratic political power, together with the CPP as the ruling party, the New People's Army as the main armed component of people's state power, the mass organizations and the broad masses of the people.

Since its founding and in the course of decades of practice, the NPA has treated POWs well in accordance with the 1969 Basic Rules of the New People's Army, international humanitarian law, the CARHRIHL and within its capabilities and circumstances. These have been publicly attested to by former POWs themselves, such as Gen. Victor Obillo, PA Major Eduardo Montealto, P/Major Rene Francisco, P/Major Roberto Bernal, among others, and by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Let me also assure Atty. Padilla that the people's court of the democratic people's government is guided by the principle of fair administration of justice in observing the rights of individuals to due process. This is provided for in Part III on the Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens in the Guide for Establishing the People's Democratic Government. Atty. Padilla has nothing to fear for the POWs and the detainees in the criminal justice system of the revolutionary movement.

The NDFP is committed to pursue the peace negotiations with the GPH to bring about just and lasting peace in the country by addressing the roots of the armed conflict. It has even offered truce and alliance with the Aquino regime provided it firmly stands up for national sovereignty, democracy and social justice on the basis of the NDFP ten-point proposal for a Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace issued on 27 August 2005. What the GPH should do is to respond to the NDFP proposal instead of engaging in irresponsible provocative talk that threatens to terminate the peace negotiations.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/irresponsible-talk-by-gph-does.html

CPP: Malacañang is obligated to release NDF consultants, fullfill peace talks agreements

CPP: Malacañang is obligated to release NDF consultants, fullfill peace talks agreements*

Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
August 12, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today reminded Malacañang of its obligation to release all peace talks consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and fulfill all agreements entered into by the Philippine government (GPH).

The CPP issued the reminder in reaction to statements made yesterday by an Aquino spokesman saying "that the release of (NDFP) consultants was never an obligation but confidence building on the part of government to push the peace process forward."

"By claiming that the release of NDFP consultants was 'never an obligation', Aquino's spokesperson downplays the importance the Joint Communique which the GPH representatives signed with the NDFP on January 18 this year wherein it agreed to work precisely for the expeditious release of NDFP consultants and other personnel covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG)," pointed out the CPP.

The CPP further reminded Malacañang that representatives of the Norwegian government witnessed the signing of the Joint Communique and are aware of its contents.

By reaffirming the framework of the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations, the Aquino government is also obligated to abide by the provisions of the JASIG and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), added the CPP.

"Aside from the release of NDFP peace consultants, the Aquino regime is also bound by the CARHRIHL, the JASIG and other agreements to release more than 350 political prisoners who continue to languish in GPH jails," said the CPP.

"The Aquino regime is likewise obliged to carry out the necessary measures to mete justice on security and military officials who masterminded a number of fascist crimes committed under the Arroyo regime, including the abduction and enforced disappearance of NDFP consultants Leo Velasco, Prudencio Calubid and Rogelio Calubad as well as other NDFP personnel and the extrajudicial killing of more than a thousand activists."

"Millions of people especially in the countryside continue to be victimized by violations of the AFP of the provisions of the CARHRIHL in the conduct of its counterrevolutionary Oplan Bayanihan," said the CPP. "Under the CARHRIHL, the Aquino government is also obliged to order the AFP to put a stop to such practices as using civilian infrastructure for setting up armed detachments, encamping in population centers, restricting the free movement of people, imposing curfews, food and other forms of economic blockade and other violations of the people's economic and political rights as well as practices that endanger the civilian population."

"Malacañang is trying to gloss over its failure to fulfill obligations of the Philippine government by questioning the sincerity of the NDFP and denouncing the legitimate acts of war being carried out by the New People's Army and the judicial processes of the democratic people's government."

The CPP pointed out that the recent detention of, and subsequent accordance of prisoner-of-war status on four personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) taken into custody on July 21 and the arrest of GPH official Henry Dano and his bodyguards in order to face preliminary investigation "neither constitute violations of standing agreements with the GPH nor diminish the determination of the NDFP to pursue peace negotiations as a means of resolving the socio-economic roots of the civil war."

"Before questioning the sincerity of the NDFP in peace talks, Malacañang should first prove its capability to comply with past peace agreements by releasing all NDFP consultants and more than 350 political prisoners and ensuring that the AFP respects human rights and complies with provisions of the CARHRIHL," said the CPP.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/cpp-malacanang-is-obligated-to-release.html

CPP: Aquino has no moral high ground to question the NDFP's sincerity in the peace talks

CPP: Aquino has no moral high ground

to question the NDFP's sincerity in the peace talks*

CPP Information Bureau
August 09, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today chided Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, saying "the Philippine government does not have the moral high ground to question the sincerity of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the peace talks." The CPP asserted that the NDFP has consistently shown its capability and determination to engage in negotiations to resolve the roots of the armed conflict.

"How can Aquino question the sincerity of the NDFP when it has been his government that has failed to show good faith in peace talks after carrying out the arrest earlier this year of at least two key NDFP peace consultants and failing to fulfill its obligations to effect the release of at least 17 peace talks consultants of the NDFP," pointed out the CPP.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) arrested NDFP consultants Tirso Alcantara on January 4 and Alan Jazmines on February 14 in outright violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Alcantara was arrested while preliminary talks were going on while Jazmines was arrested hours before formal peace talks between the government and NDFP panels were to resume in Oslo, Norway. As of July, the Philippine government has released only NDF consultants Jovencio Balweg, Jaime Soledad and Maria Luisa Pucray.

For the past two decades, the NDFP has demonstrated before the international community its determination to engage in peace negotiations to resolve the roots of the armed conflict and to wage people's war in accordance with the standards set by international conventions. The revolutionary forces have also demonstrated their ability to uphold agreements forged with the Philippine government, particularly, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL) signed in 1998.

"The Aquino government is in no position to demand that the revolutionary forces stop waging the war of resistance when its armed forces continue their war of suppression in the countryside under the AFP's Oplan Bayanihan," said the CPP.

"Behind its human rights rhetoric, the AFP continues to violate with impunity the political, economic and cultural rights of the people as well as international rules on the conduct of war," said the CPP. "These operations invariably cause severe economic and psychological hardships on the peasant population in the countryside."

The CPP said a cursory search of the Philippine Revolution Web Central (PRWC) website (www.philippinerevolution.net) for the keywords "human rights" will reveal numerous cases of abuse committed by the AFP under the Aquino regime. The CPP cited a number of practices being carried out by the AFP under Oplan Bayanihan:

# Encamping in barangay centers, church grounds, school buildings, day care centers and other civilian centers, endangering the lives and properties of the civilian population.

# Conducting barrio census for counter-insurgency.

# Forcing people to attend military-sponsored "mass surrender" assemblies.

# Forcibly enlisting people to serve as guides in their military operations.

# Compelling people to contribute wood and other material to build military detachments

# Compelling people to work in building detachments.

# Compelling people as young as 15-years old to join the Barrio Defense System and carry out early morning reconnaissance.

# Imposing night-time curfews and restricting people from engaging in activities such as collecting firewood and working in the fields.

# Threatening people who refuse to cooperate with the military with enlistment in the AFP's Order of Battle.

# Imposing a food blockade and restricting the volume of commodities that people can buy.

# Illegally arresting people and using torture to force them to divulge information.

"The New People's Army (NPA) will continue to carry out tactical offensives against legitimate military targets in response to the demands of the people to punish abusive military and police forces as well as criminal and antisocial elements who disrupt community peace and order."

"The NPA's tactical offensives are being carried out in accordance with the instructions of the Party's central leadership," added the CPP.

"The Filipino people's revolutionary forces will continue to engage the Aquino regime in peace negotiations as long as the Aquino regime shows interest in discussing and resolving the socio-economic roots of the armed conflict. But the Philippine government must show that it is capable of abiding by the agreements forged in talks with the NDFP," said the CPP.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/cpp-aquino-has-no-moral-high-ground-to.html

On the Meeting of Senator Francis Pangilinan and NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairman Luis Jalandoni and NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison

On the Meeting of Senator Francis Pangilinan

and NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni

and NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison*

NDFP International Information Office
08 July 2011

*On the Meeting of Senator Francis Pangilinan and NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni and NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison*

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni and Prof. Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant warmly welcomed Senator Francis Pangilinan, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food and the Committee on Social Justice and Rural Development at the NDF Information Office in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on 7 July 2011.

1. Sen. Pangilinan came on his account as a senate official of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) in order to promote the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations and encourage the holding of formal talks between the GPH and NDFP Negotiating Panels.

2. Pangilinan presented for the consideration of the NDFP his proposals for solving socio-economic and political problems and his reasons why there is hope for the Philippines. Jalandoni assured the senator that the NDFP leadership and the NDFP negotiating panel would seriously study his proposals.

3. Jalandoni and Pangilinan agreed that there is urgent need for the peace negotiations to move forward in the face of the serious problems of the Philippines and in response to the desire of the Filipino people to address such problems with comprehensive agreements on basic social, economic and political reforms.

4. They agreed on the need for the negotiating panels to engage in formal talks soon and for the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms and for the Working Groups on Political and Constitutional Reforms to carry out their work across the table.

5. Jalandoni pointed out the need for compliance with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the release of the 17 political prisoners who are protected by the JASIG. Pangilinan pledged to help in seeking the release of said political prisoners.

6. Pangilinan and Jalandoni agreed on the desirability of a partnership or alliance between the GPH and the NDFP on the basis of a general declaration of common intent, justifying truce and letting the negotiations forge the comprehensive agreements in basic terms and in detail.

7. The NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson discussed that in accordance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), the political prisoners must be released in the most expeditious manner. They are in prison either because of their political belief or association or because they are victims of political repression and have been subjected to false charges of common crimes or political offense. Pangilinan committed to discuss this matter with the GRP Panel together with the issue of the possibility of President Aquino granting amnesty to political prisoners.

(Sgd) Senator Francis Pangilinan
Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food
Chairman, Senate Committee on Social Justice and Rural Development

(Sgd) Luis Jalandoni
NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson

(Sgd) Prof. Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/07/on-meeting-of-senator-francis.html

Implement JASIG, free the consultants--NDFP

Implement JASIG, free the consultants--NDFP

Formal peace negotiations are not likely to take place if the Government of the Philippines (GPH) continues to refuse complying with its agreement with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in January to free detained NDFP consultants. NDFP Negotiating Panel chair Comrade Luis Jalandoni aired this warning in his June 2 letter to Atty. Alex Padilla who chairs the GPH Negotiating Panel.

The GPH pledged in its joint communiqué with the NDFP dated January 18 that it would expedite the release of detained NDFP consultants and other personalities covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Before the end of May, both Padilla and Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles urged Comrade Fidel Agcaoili, NDFP Negotiating Panel vice chair to postpone his return to Utrecht, The Netherlands as Benigno Aquino III would allegedly announce the release of political detainees on June 1. The date passed without any of the 17 detained NDFP consultants being released.

Among the imprisoned NDFP consultants is Alan Jazmines, a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms (RWC-SER). Jazmines who was illegally arrested on February 14 will be unable to fulfill his crucial role in the RWC-SER because he continues to languish at the police detention center in Camp Crame, Quezon City. Instead, authorities have threatened to transfer him to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Aside from Jazmines, NDFP Southern Tagalog consultant Tirso Alcantara is also detained and has been handcuffed to his bed since his arrest in January. It was Alcantara who signed the International Committee of the Red Cross document when the NPA released Maj. Noel Buan of the Philippine Army in April 2001. Alcantara is protected by the JASIG.

The NDFP said that the Aquino regime's failure to fulfill its pledge to immediately release political prisoners poses a serious obstacle to the peace talks. Discussions on socio-economic reforms as well as on political and constitutional reforms have been set for June.

The NDFP demanded concrete measures from the GPH to implement the commitments it made during formal talks held last February 15-21. There are currently more than 340 political prisoners awaiting concrete action from the GPH in compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Ms. Teresita Quintos-Deles is mistaken on the JASIG -NDF

Ms. Teresita Quintos-Deles is mistaken on the JASIG*

Fidel V. Agcaoili
Negotiating Panel
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
06 June 2011

Ms. Teresita (Ging) Quinto-Deles, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process of the Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly designated as the GRP), is mistaken in claiming that the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) is a mere side-table issue in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations.

Ms. Ging Deles should be reminded that the primary purposes of the JASIG are “to facilitate the peace negotiations, create a favorable atmosphere conducive to free discussion and movement during the peace negotiations, and avert any incident that may jeopardize the peace negotiations."

The JASIG is a very important agreement in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations. It is what enables the Parties to directly engage in peace negotiations by providing safety and immunity guarantees to their respective negotiators, consultants, staffers, security and other personnel who participate in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations. It actually tests the sincerity and commitment of the Parties to the peace negotiations.

As stipulated in the Joint Communique signed by the Parties and witnessed by Ambassador Ture Lundh of the Royal Norwegian Government on 18 January 2011 in Oslo: “The GPH Panel agreed to work for the expeditious release of detained NDFP consultants and other JASIG protected persons in compliance with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and in the spirit of goodwill.”

The NDFP proposal to defer the talks of the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RWCs SER) and the Working Groups on Political and Constitutional Reforms (WGs PCR) scheduled in Oslo this month is meant to allow the GPH to comply with the JASIG.

The Parties may create mechanisms to facilitate discussions on the full implementation of the JASIG. But such mechanisms do not relegate the full implementation of the JASIG to a side-table issue. The claim of Ms. Ging Deles is simply preposterous.

Moreover, if the GPH cannot be trusted to comply with the JASIG, how can it be expected to comply with agreements on social and economic reforms, and on political and constitutional reforms, or, for that matter, in any agreement that would enable the Parties to enter into an alliance and truce?

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/06/ms-teresita-quintos-deles-is-mistaken.html

NDF-EV urges Gov. Nicart to support the peace talks at the national level

NDF-EV urges Gov. Nicart to support the peace talks at the national level*

Fr. Santiago Salas
NDFP-Eastern Visayas
Hunyo 1, 2011

The National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today declined the offer of Eastern Samar Gov. Conrado Nicart, Jr., to discuss peace in the province and said the gesture for peace will be much better if the governor will support the peace talks at the national level. “The issue of peace is bigger than in Eastern Samar alone,” said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson. “That is why the peace talks should be held at the national level as it is now to thresh out the root causes of the armed conflict and to make a just and lasting peace possible. Holding peace talks at the local level will only play into the hands of the militarists and fascists who want to sow confusion and sabotage genuine peace by such a divide-and-rule tactic against the revolutionary forces,”

Fr. Salas added that the peace talks are proceeding at a snail's pace because the Aquino government is showing a lack of political initiative, and because militarists and fascists are working behind the scene to push “counterinsurgency” scheme Oplan Bayanihan. “While the Aquino government has committed to releasing the NDFP peace consultants and other political prisoners, not a single one has been released and the military is monopolizing the say-so by insisting the political prisoners have to go through the gauntlet of the judicial process. That is the reality, even though Noynoy Aquino can cut to the chase by ordering the release of political prisoners through executive fiat, as his mother Cory Aquino did in 1986 in ordering the release of Jose Ma. Sison and others imprisoned by the Marcos dictatorship. It seems the militarists and fascists are making all the decisions because they want to wage total war against the revolutionary movement through Oplan Bayanihan.”

The NDF-EV spokesperson advised Gov. Nicart to support the peace talks and help frustrate the militarists and fascists. “Gov. Nicart can help further the cause of peace by expressing support for the release of all political prisoners and other human rights issues. He can support the people in opposing Oplan Bayanihan as well as human rights violations caused by militarization in Eastern Samar. He can support the people's demands for socio-economic reforms such as opposing large-scale mining and logging in the province. By listening to the people and supporting their grievances, Gov. Nicart can make positive contributions to addressing the root causes of the armed conflict, continuing the peace talks, and paving the way for a just and lasting peace.”

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/06/ndf-ev-urges-gov-nicart-to-support.html

Compliance with JASIG requires release of Alan Jazmines and other NDFP Consultants and JASIG-Protected personnel -NDF

Compliance with JASIG requires release of Alan Jazmines

and other NDFP Consultants and JASIG-Protected personnel*

Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson,

NDFP Negotiating Panel
May 28, 2011

The sincerity of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) under President Noynoy Aquino is under serious question because of the failure to release Alan Jazmines and other Consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and JASIG-protected persons.

The GPH, through its Negotiating Panel, committed itself “to work for the expeditious release of detained NDFP consultants and other JASIG-protected persons in compliance with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and in the spirit of goodwill.”

Now, more than four months after that commitment was made in the Joint Communique of 18 January 2011, seventeen NDFP Consultants and JASIG-protected persons are still detained in GPH prisons.

Alan Jazmines, appointed by the NDFP national leadership as Member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms (RWC-SER), is unable to fulfill his crucially important function for the SER negotiations which address the roots of the armed conflict. Instead of being released, he has been threatened with forcible transfer by the military.

Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara who signed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) certificate for the release of Army Major Noel Buan in April 2011 is still shackled to his bed. The NDFP demands his release in accordance with JASIG because he is publicly known to have participated in the peace process. The release of Major Buan was done to enhance the atmosphere for the peace negotiations, which were resumed in Oslo a few weeks later on 27 April 2001.

The continuing failure of the Aquino government to stand by its commitment for expeditious release in compliance with a solemn peace agreement -- the JASIG -- signed by both negotiating panels and approved by their respective Principals, then President Fidel Ramos and NDFP Chairman Mariano Orosa, seriously prejudices the advance of peace talks on social and economic reforms and political and constitutional reforms.

The GPH must also show concrete results of its commitment, declared during the formal talks on 15-21 February 2011, “to undertake steps for the release of prisoners and detainees”. More than 340 political prisoners await concrete action by the GPH in accordance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

President Aquino must act decisively to honor solemn GPH commitments so that the peace negotiations can advance. Expeditious release does not mean months of non-compliance and indecision.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/05/compliance-with-jasig-requires-release.html

Ms. Etta Rosales Is Using the CHR to Violate CARHRIHL and Derail the GPH-NDFP Peace Negotiations

Ms. Etta Rosales Is Using the CHR to Violate CARHRIHL

and Derail the GPH-NDFP Peace Negotiations

Fidel V. Agcaoili
Chairperson,
NDFP Monitoring Committee
April 28, 2011

Mr. Fidel V. Agcaoili, Chairperson of the Human Rights Monitoring Committee (HRMC) of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), today lambasted the attempt of the Government of the Philippines (GPH, formerly the GRP) to derail the peace negotiations through the malicious antics of Ms. Etta Rosales, Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

"Ms. Rosales has been maliciously using her office to blatantly violate the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) in an attempt to derail the peace negotiations between the GPH and the NDFP," Agcaoili said.

Earlier, Rosales had allowed the CHR to participate in the arbitrary exclusion of more than 2,000 successful plaintiffs in the Human Rights Case in the US against the Marcos Estate. "Etta has used the GPH's Commission on Human Rights to perpetrate the unjust scheme of denying the victims of their rightful claim to the Marcos estate. She has not only violated the victims' human rights but has also trampled upon the CARHRIHL that has provided for a fair and equitable distribution of the proceeds of the court case," Agcaoili commented.

"Now, Etta has again used the CHR to absolve the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) of the kidnapping, illegal arrest and detention, and torture of Fil-Am activist Melissa Roxas and to scapegoat the New People's Army (NPA), without any shred of evidence. She even invoked the CARHRIHL to hold the NDFP responsible for what the AFP had done. Such grossly irresponsible behavior deserves the opprobrium of everyone, especially human rights activists worldwide," Agcaoili added.

"In the pursuit of her personal vendetta against alleged erstwhile comrades in the national democratic movement, Etta has turned the GPH's Commission on Human Rights into an inquisition arm of the Aquino regime. Her actions are bound to destroy the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations," Agcaoili concluded.

NDFP lambasts Padilla

NDFP lambasts Padilla*

April 21, 2011

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) berated Atty. Alexander Padilla, who chairs the negotiating panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) for his "provocative" commentaries that have no place in the peace negotiations. Padilla recently claimed that the revolutionary movement could no longer recruit educated youth because the latter were more obsessed with the internet.

NDF Human Rights Committee chair Fidel V. Agcaoili said Padilla was merely demonstrating how far removed he was from reality. He said there were several websites, blogs and Facebook accounts being used by mass organizations and personalities to propagate the message of the national-democratic movement to the Filipino people. Agcaoili cited the Philippine Revoution Web Central, the Paaralang Jose Ma. Sison, Facebook accounts of Marco Valbuena and readers of Ang Bayan, as well as revolutionary and progressive videos uploaded on YouTube, among others.

The effective use of these venues by the Philippine revolutionary movement is a way of propagating the message of the national-democratic revolution even before they can be reported in local and international newspapers.

Padilla's "provocative" comments come at the heels of his earlier statement questioning the NDF's sincerity in achieving a political settlement in the face of the raging civil war in the country. His insistence on a three-year timetable for concluding the peace talks is detrimental to the current negotiations because it plays into the hands of militarist saboteurs who are only interested to see the talks' failure and in unleashing allout war under Oplan Bayanihan.

Padilla must realize that the success or failure of the peace talks rests squarely on the shoulders of the Aquino regime and not on the NDFP, said the Communist Party of the Philippines. Instead of coming out with such damaging statements, he should instead concentrate on looking for solutions to the issues of land reform and national sovereignty, widespread unemployment, poverty and hunger which lie at the roots of the civil war.

* Url:http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/ab/text.pl?issue=20110421;lang=eng;article=08

NDF to celebrate 38th anniversary on Easter Sunday, ceasefire unlikely due to unpeacable gov't--CPP

NDF to celebrate 38th anniversary on Easter Sunday,

ceasefire unlikely due to unpeacable gov't--CPP

CPP Information Bureau
April 22, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said the revolutionary masses and forces under the National Democratic Front (NDF), as well as its friends and allies are to celebrate the 38th founding anniversary of the revolutionary alliance on April 24, coinciding with the Catholic Church's celebration of Easter Sunday. The CPP declared, however, that an "easter ceasefire declaration is highly unlikely" as the Aquino government and its chief negotiator "continue to exhibit unpeaceable attitudes and actions."

"On April 24, there will be mass celebrations of the founding anniversary of the NDF," said the CPP. "The Filipino people will celebrate the revolutionary victories of the past year even as they aim to achieve bigger victories in the struggle against foreign intervention, government corruption, exploitation and oppression of workers and peasants, unemployment, poverty, militarization, disease and environmental destruction."

"The CPP is not keen on issuing an Easter Sunday ceasefire declaration as the Aquino government continues to show itself as unpeacable with the continued detention of key NDF negotiators covered by the immunity agreement as well as hundreds of other political prisoners. The Aquino regime has also undertaken a renewed campaign of extrajudicial killings which has already victimized at least 15 labor leaders, peasant and social activists in a matter of months and intensified the militarization of civilian communities in the rural areas," said the CPP.

"It has also shown a general lack of interest in addressing the socio-economic and political roots of the armed conflict," added the CPP. "It refuses to heed the demand to put an end to cutbacks in social spending which have resulted in upwardly spralling costs of services, putting them beyond the reach of ordinary Filipinos. It also refuses to address the widespread clamor to abrogate the Oil Deregulation Law which has allowed foreign oil companies to jack up prices at will in their drive for maximum profit."

"The government's chief negotiator Alexander Padilla continues to dish out provocative and unstatesmanly statements that disparage the revolutionary movement", said the CPP. "He continues to disappoint peace advocates who knew him as a human rights lawyer as he now conducts himself more and more like a spokesman of the fascist AFP."

"The revolutionary forces under the NDFP will continue to engage the Philippine government in peace negotiations as an additional avenue to push forward the agenda of the national democratic revolution," said the CPP. "At the same time, it calls on the Filipino people to continue intensifying mass strugges and the armed revolution to advance their aspirations for national liberation and social emancipation."

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/ndf-to-celebrate-38th-anniversary-on.html

Revolutionary movement will remain youthful and vibrant-CPP (NDF)

Revolutionary movement will remain youthful and vibrant*

Communist Party of the Philippines
April 13, 2011

Alex Padilla, head of the Aquino government's peace panel, does not know what he's talking about when he claimed that the Filipino youth are pre-occupied with so-called "cyber-pursuits" and are no longer interested in engaging in social activism, and that the revolutionary movement will eventually die a natural death because it can no longer attract young people to its ranks.

It makes us wonder why Padilla, as head of the negotiating panel, dishes out such claptrap, which do not at all help push forward peace negotiations. Worse, he is showing himself completely out of touch with reality and out of sync with the Filipino youth. Indeed, he is not yet too old, yet the ideas he is espousing are antiquated and reflect the interests of the decrepit social and political system.

The Filipino people's revolutionary movement remains youthful and vibrant as ever. It continues to take root among the students in colleges and universities, as well as among young workers and peasants and persevere in fighting to put an end to the old oppressive and exploitative system.

On a daily basis, young Filipinos, both from the minority who are educated and the vast majority who are out of school, are repulsed by the corruption, rottenness, fascist brutality and puppetry of the ruling reactionary state. The current reactionary leadership which defends the old semicolonial and semifeudal is seen as representative of what is old and decrepit. Young Filipinos do not trust their future to the class leadership of big landlords, big bourgeois compradors and big beaurucrat capitalists.

As much as they are repulsed by the ruling system, young Filipinos are drawn to the revolutionary cause which represents a modern, forward-looking and progressive system. They are militated by the cause of national liberation and social emancipation.

They study revolutionary ideas from a multitude of sources including the internet, books, lectures and seminars, educational discussions, statements and various other materials produced by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the Kabataang Makabayan (KM or Patriotic Youth) as well as other revolutionary, progressive and democratic organizations.

Indeed, the internet has served as an effective means of communication and an outlet for dissent. The CPP and the NDFP have long taken advantage of the internet since the late 1990s. Revolutionary forces have employed internet tools such as Twitter, Facebook, blog websites and others to undertake education, information propagation, organizing and networking. Through the internet, the CPP and the revolutionary and progressive organizations are able to reach out to greater numbers of people than ever before. Everyday, the CPP and NDF receive emails asking how to join the New People's Army (NPA) and to participate in or support the revolutionary cause.

The CPP is a dynamic and vibrant organization composed of both experienced cadres and youthful revolutionaries. It benefits from the insights and energy of young adult recruits and the guidance of its senior cadres. The vast majority of the CPP's membership are young activists who are daily recruited among the fighters of the NPA, as well as from peasant organizations, workers' unions, associations of toiling people and student and youth organizations in the urban areas.

The ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system is old and moribund. It is debilitated with incurable social diseases. In contrast, the CPP and the revolutionary cause are ever young and vibrant.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/revolutionary-movement-will-remain.html

How wonder why Alex Padilla spoke about Facebook and Revolution?

How wonder why Alex Padilla spoke about Facebook and Revolution?

Last time, Alex Padilla of the GRP Peace Panel ignorantly speaking about "Leftist rebels being pushed into oblivion by Facebook and the Internet as rebellious youths now vent online instead of taking up arms against the state."

These words at first seemed agreeable, but digging deeper, it doesn't mean that using the internet as an instrument of People's struggle will replace actual means including armed struggle. It even rather getting the Revolution closely in-touch with the people using modern-day technology.

Padilla, whilst continuing his rant, even speak that the Revolutionary Movement, since "left on its own and with continued economic growth, the government believes the 42-year rebellion would eventually die a natural death", that seemed contradictory to the fact that the Revolutionary Movement, being self-reliant in accordance to the basic rules, steered up in its growth in accordance to its plans-that includes minor yet better armed victories against the Reactionary system.

And speaking of "Economic Growth", as Padilla stated, how come prices of commodities, especially oil increasing? It may be an international problem that includes the Philippines, but having a deregulated oil sector and a continuous economic crisis both international and local rather pushing the nation downwards regardless of the "Reforms" being taken through, otherwise the "Reforms" taken by the present Administration are a rehash of the past ones with new names and schemes supplanted.

That, according to Fidel Agcaoili of the NDFP:

“Alex and Noynoy may not be as old as some members of the NDFP Negotiating Panel but the two GPH officials represent the old and reactionary semi-colonial and semi-feudal social system that is ruled by the few big landlords and comprador capitalists with the full support of foreign monopoly capitalists, especially the US,”

For sure these words spoken by Agcaoili stated the fact that despite leaders passed, every GRP representative meets the same people around in Utrecht, Oslo, or even in the prison cells in Metro Manila. And the ones from the GRP (or GPH) represents the status quo that is, repressive and aloof of major reforms ought to be seriously taken.

And if the status quo spoke of certain major changes, reforms in the society, how come there are no basic industries, that the land problem remain unanswered and the continuous presence of U.S. Imperialism through its diplomats, wire cables, and military advisers?

Well...

“Should the peace negotiations not end within his given time frame of 3 years, Alex should be asking his principal, Noynoy Aquino, why Hacienda Luisita can’t be subjected to genuine land reform instead of putting the blame on the NDF,” Agcaoili said.

The Revolutionary Struggle continues to grow nowadays, that regardless of shortcomings, still it continues to grow, that with planning, discipline, support from the people and the like, creates a youthful and vibrant appearance that the rotten system tried much to counter.

And as for Facebook, Twitter, gadgets and modern Technology, as Mao Zedong stated, it is the people who are deciding not with those tools, things as what Padilla said.

True indeed, that the system tried much to deny, but despite the rants, the struggle for peace remains.

Facebook 'pushing Philippine rebels into oblivion'

Facebook 'pushing Philippine rebels into oblivion'*

Agence France-Presse

Posted at 04/10/2011 12:18 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Leftist rebels are being pushed into oblivion by Facebook and the Internet as rebellious youths now vent online instead of taking up arms against the state, a peace negotiator said Thursday.

Chief negotiator Alex Padilla said the Internet had helped steer university students away from the rebels, whom he said had been reduced to recruiting school dropouts and the unschooled.

New President Benigno Aquino resumed peace talks with the Maoist rebels this year with Norway playing host after a 7-year lull, convinced the insurgents were going nowhere and would sign a peace settlement in 18 months.

"There has been a lack of, or dearth of youthful ideologues actually being brought up. They have been unable to harness their proteges among the younger groups," Padilla said, noting that most rebels leaders are over 70.

"They are now recruiting not students from the university as before but out-of-school youth," said Padilla, who put the rebels' popular support at no more than three million out of the national population of about 94 million.

Padilla said rising use of the Internet and social networking sites had curtailed the pool of new recruits into the Communist Party of the Philippines and its 5,000-member armed wing, the New People's Army.

"I think Facebook has played a role because I think the interests of the youth now are far different from 30 years ago, when there were less avenues for engaging other people."

Left on its own and with continued economic growth, the government believes the 42-year rebellion would eventually die a natural death, Padilla said.

However, the government believes it is best to speed up the process through talks and thus prevent further bloodletting, he said.

Military statistics show the insurgency, which has largely relied on extortion to sustain itself after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, still claims hundreds of lives every year.

"There is reason to hope for a possible end, but at the same time we are realistic," Padilla said.

He said he was giving himself no more than three years to get the rebels to sign a peace deal, and if they did not it would only mean they were not interested in a settlement after 24 years of on-and-off talks.

"If we are unable to meet this time frame we don't want to negotiate for another 24 years," he said.

This article was made before the responses from the NDFP.

* Url:http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/04/09/11/facebook-pushing-philippine-rebels-oblivion

NDF: Facebook also a tool to support revolution

NDF: Facebook also a tool to support revolution*

By Ira Pedrasa, abs-cbnNEWS.com

04/12/2011 3:43 PM

MANILA, Philippines - The Internet has become the venue of the educated youth to step up revolutionary theories and practices, said National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) spokesman Fidel Agcaoili.

In a statement, he lambasted the chief of the negotiating panel Alexander Padilla, who supposedly earlier said that the emergence of Facebook and the likes on the Internet have “pushed Filipino rebels into oblivion.”

“Alex seems to be suffering from the same arrogant sickness as some of those who left the national democratic movement to join the GPH [Philippine government] bureaucracy. Like them, he thinks that the movement has stopped growing and recruiting from the ranks of the educated youth since he left 25 years ago,”

In a phone interview, Padilla said he was taken out of context on that regard. He said he was merely talking of the dwindling relevance of communism in the time of Internet, such as what has been happening abroad.

Agcaoili said “25 years is such a long time for Alex to make speculations about the movement's current strength or weaknesses. But having been with the movement for a time, he should have learned that the main issues before the peace negotiations now are genuine land reform and national industrialization and not communism.”

He said Facebook accounts, web blogs and different sites are being used by the educated youth to “bring the call for a genuine social change in the country. The efficient use of the internet and Facebook by the Philippine revolutionary movement as a means to propagate the national democratic revolution has even been reported on by local and international media.”

“Alex and Noynoy may not be as old as some members of the NDFP Negotiating Panel but the two GPH officials represent the old and reactionary semi-colonial and semi-feudal social system that is ruled by the few big landlords and comprador capitalists with the full support of foreign monopoly capitalists, especially the US,” Agcaoili added.

Both parties reached an agreement in February as to how the peace talks would take its course.

“Should the peace negotiations not end within his given time frame of 3 years, Alex should be asking his principal, Noynoy Aquino, why Hacienda Luisita can’t be subjected to genuine land reform instead of putting the blame on the NDF,” Agcaoili said.

Padilla insisted, however, that both parties agreed to the time frame given. He remained confident that agreements would be arrived at.

He also dismissed talks he will be resigning from the negotiating panel.

* Url:http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/04/12/11/ndf-facebook-also-tool-support-revolution

The Provocative Statements of Alexander Padilla-NDF

The Provocative Statements of Alexander Padilla*

Fidel V. Agcaoili
NDFP Negotiating Panel
April 12, 2011

In a recent interview, Atty. Alexander (Alex) A. Padilla, Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH formerly designated as GRP), made several provocative statements that have no place in the ongoing peace negotiations between the GPH and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

His claim that Facebook and the internet are "pushing Filipino rebels into oblivion" is totally out of touch with reality and only exposes himself as a mere disinformation mouthpiece of the Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino III regime.

Seemingly, Alex is ignorant of the numerous Facebook accounts, blogs and websites of people and organizations that espouse the national democratic aspirations of the Filipino people, such as the Philippine Revolution Web Central, the Paaralang Jose Maria Sison, the Facebook accounts of Marco Valbuena and Ang Bayan Community Page, the You Tube postings of allied organizations of the NDFP, and others.

For the information of Alex, these are manned by those whom he calls the "educated youth" who have not only shown proficiency in these medium but are also steeped in revolutionary theory and practice. One or two of them have become martyrs of the national democratic movement under the Noynoy Aquino regime.

Facebook and other social networks are some of the venues to bring the call for a genuine social change in the country. The efficient use of the internet and Facebook by the Philippine revolutionary movement as a means to propagate the national democratic revolution has even been reported on by local and international media.

Moreoever, the progressive youth leaders in the legal democratic movement such as Kabataan Party List Representative Raymond "Mong" Palatino, Renato Reyes of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Dr. Giovanni Tapang of AGHAM, and many more would really be insulted by Alex's mendacious claim.

Alex and Noynoy may not be as old as some members of the NDFP Negotiating Panel but the two GPH officials represent the old and reactionary semi- colonial and semi-feudal social system that is ruled by the few big landlords and comprador capitalists with the full support of foreign monopoly capitalists, specially the US.

Alex seems to be suffering from the same arrogant sickness as some of those who left the national democratic movement to join the GPH bureaucracy. Like them he thinks that the movement has stopped growing and recruiting from the ranks of the educated youth since he left 25 years ago!

25 years is such a long time for Alex to make speculations about the movement's current strength or weaknesses. But having been with the movement for a time, he should have learned that the main issues before the peace negotiations now are genuine land reform and national industrialization and not communism!

Should the peace negotiations not end within his given time frame of three years, Alex should be asking his principal, Noynoy Aquino, why Hacienda Luisita cannot be subjected to genuine land reform instead of putting the blame on the NDFP!

It does not speak well of the GPH negotiating panel chairperson to declare publicly that the use of Facebook determines the course of the revolutionary movement of the Filipino people. The people's war will continue and advance for so long as imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism exploit and oppress the people and prevent the development of the Philippines.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/provocative-statements-of-alexander.html