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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
International Information Office
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
11 November 2008
Senator Jamby Madrigal, NDFP call for peace talks resumption,
Twits Dutch government for “poisoning” peace talks in Philippines
[NDFP-IIO, Utrecht] Philippine Senator Maria Ana Madrigal met with the
peace negotiations panel of the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines in Utrecht, The Netherlands on Sunday and Monday (9 and 10
November) and issued a statement reiterating her call for the immediate
resumption of the formal talks in the peace negotiations between the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the revolutionary NDFP.
The joint statement called on the government of the Netherlands to respect
Philippine judicial processes and to stop poisoning the atmosphere for
peace negotiations between the two parties in conflict.
Senator Madrigal, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Peace,
Unification and Reconciliation, visited Utrecht specifically to follow up
on the developments of the GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations. She exchanged
information with the NDFP Negotiating Panel on the status, impediments and
prospects of the peace talks and on the work of her Senate Committee.
In their joint statement released on 10 November, Senator Madrigal and the
NDFP Panel called on the Dutch government to “cease and desist from using
false charges to oppress, pressure or harass NDFP panelists, consultants
and staffers.” They reminded the Dutch government of the 1 June 2007
decision of the Philippine Supreme Court which already nullified the
charge of rebellion against Jose Maria Sison, Chief Political Consultant
to the NDFP Panel, and others, “including the false allegations regarding
the Kintanar and Tabara killings.”
“These politically motivated and false charges,” the statement asserted,
“have served to impede and poison the atmosphere for peace negotiations.”
Dutch police arrested Sison on 28 August 2007, alleging that he
masterminded the killing of GRP security officers Romulo Kintanar in 2003
and Arturo Tabara in 2004. Dutch authorities also simultaneously ransacked
the NDFP information office in Utrecht and the private homes of NDFP
panelists and volunteer staffmembers, including the home of NDFP
Negotiating Panel Chairperson Luis G. Jalandoni, to obtain so-called
evidences for the trumped up charges. The District Court of the Hague
ordered the release of Sison on 13 October 2007, citing insufficient
evidence in the case filed against him.
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Senator Madrigal and the NDFP
peace panel said that formal peace talks need to be immediately resumed
“for the benefit of the Filipino people, because of the impact of the
global economic crisis on (the Philippines), as well as renewed upsurge in
political killings, enforced disappearances and mass filing of false
chages against political activists”. They affirmed that the resumption of
peace negotiations must be in accordance with existing agreements between
the GRP and the NDFP, and must address the roots of the armed conflict in
the country “with social, economic, political and constitutional reforms”.
As a sign of “goodwill and confidence building”, they urged the Gloria
Arroyo government to replace General Hermogenes Esperon as GRP Peace
Adviser who, they asserted, “has proven to be a major stumbling block to
the resumption of the peace talks.” They also urged the GRP to immediately
release political detainees who were ordered released since 2001, and NDFP
panelists; drop false charges against NDFP panelists, consultants and
staffers, in accordance with the 1 June 2007 Supreme Court decision; and
to carry out the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to abolish Arroyo's
Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) and to prosecute rights violations
arising from the GRP's military operations in the countryside.
The joint statement expressed the hope that the informal talks of the GRP
and the NDFP to be facilitated by the Norwegian government later this
month would “pave the way for the resumption of fomal talks, in accordance
with The Hague Joint Declaration (of 1992) and other existing bilateral
agreements”.
Jalandoni and Sison signed the joint statement for the NDFP Negotiating
Panel. Other peace panelists present in the discussions were Fidel V.
Agcaoili, Julieta de Lima and Coni Ledesma. Also present were NDFP
political consultant Danilo Borjal, and Senator Madrigal's Legislative
Officers Attys. J. Gary Jimenez and Romando Artes.
ATTACHMENTS: (a) Statement of Senator M.A. Madrigal and NDFP Negotiating
Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 10 November
2008; (b) photo: (Seated, left to right) Prof. Jose Maria Sison, Senator
Maria Ana Madrigal and Luis G. Jalandoni, signing joint statement with
(standing, left to right) Atty. Romando Artes, Deputy Chief Legislative
Officer to Senator Madrigal; Atty. J. Gary Jimenez, Chief Legislative
Officer; and NDFP's Coni Ledesma, Fidel V. Agcaoili and Danilo Borjal.
ndfp photo.
FOR REFERENCE: RUTH DE LEON Secretariat, NDFP Negotiating Panel
ndf@casema.nl +31 30 2310431
■ Download Statement of Senator M.A.
Madrigal and NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni, Nov. 10,
2008
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