MIM Notes 187 June 1 1999

Estrada offer for peace talks a sham

by Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel 

The Estrada regime's offer to resume peace 
negotiations with the NDFP is a sham offer. It 
contains preconditions that violate The Hague 
Joint Declaration of 1992 and the Joint 
Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees 
(JASIG) of 1995. 

Mr. Estrada's precondition that the peace 
negotiations be held in the framework of the GRP 
constitution is in contempt of the principle of 
non-capitulation stipulated in The Hague Joint 
Declaration. His demand that the talks be held 
in GRP territory in the Philippines is in 
violation of the JASIG provision for a neutral 
foreign venue. By unilaterally setting 
preconditions that violate basic bilateral 
agreements, the Estrada regime is in fact 
scuttling the peace talks and laying the ground 
for the intensified military operations it has 
been threatening to unleash. This sham offer 
covers up the continuing violations by the 
Estrada regime of the Comprehensive Agreement on 
Respect for Human Rights and International 
Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed and approved 
by both sides in 1998. 

The GRP's military and police forces kill, 
torture and violate the rights of suspected 
members of the revolutionary movement. On June 
9, 1998, AFP troops under Lt. Aguada killed and 
thereafter sexually abused Cely Anonuevo (14) 
and Marites Casamis (16) at Dipanikihan, 
Dingalan, Aurora. They also killed Ricardo 
Ilustre (19) who was hors de combat. AFP troops 
lilkewise violated the rights of the wounded 17-
year-old Jelyn Dayong and the GRP continues to 
detain her illegally. AFP troops under Lt. 
Enfistan denied medical attention to Domingo 
Baluncio (43), who was dead an hour after the 
AFP troops took him at Bato, Camarines Sur on 7 
December 1998. 

After the CARHRIHL became binding and effective 
on 7 August 1998, the GRP continues to refuse to 
comply with its obligation to release the 
political prisoners who have been imprisoned on 
false charges of common crimes in violation of 
the Hernandez doctrine. 

The GRP has reneged on its obligation to 
indemnify the victims of human rights violations 
under the Marcos dictatorship. Instead it has 
signed a rotten deal with the Marcoses and 
American lawyer Robert Swift that swindles and 
insults the human rights claimants. 

The GRP has not taken any step towards the 
repeal of repressive decrees as stipulated by 
the CARHRIHL. It has likewise refused to stop 
military campaigns and programs that cause the 
uprooting of whole communities, such as 
strategic hamletting in Pilar, Bohol, several 
towns in Capiz and in Campostela Valley in 
Davao. 

It has also neglected to designate its 
representatives and observers to the Joint 
Monitoring Committee in accordance with the 
CARHRIHL. 

The NDFP is willing to resume peace negotiations 
with the GRP on the basis of The Hague Joint 
Declaration, JASIG, CARHRIHL and other bilateral 
agreements. The NDFP has shown its capability 
and responsibility in carrying out these 
agreements, as proven by the humane treatment 
accorded the prisoners of war who were released 
recently on humanitarian grounds. 

The GRP has repeatedly declared a unilateral 
suspension of the peace negotiations in 
violation of the JASITG. In October 1994, GRP 
Panel Chair Howard Dee unilaterally declared the 
collapse of the talks. Subsequently, the GRP 
suspended the talks in June 1995 and declared an 
indefinite recess in April 1997. Most recently, 
Mr. Estrada one-sidedly suspended the talks last 
February. 

In view of the continued gross violations of 
human rights and international humanitarian law 
by the GRP and its refusal to comply with The 
Hague Joint Declaration, the JASIG and the 
CARHRIHL, the NDFP may now take its turn to 
suspend the formal meetings of the GRP-NDFP 
peace negotiations. 

The Estrada regime must learn to respect 
bilateral agreements. If it is serious in 
resuming peace negotiations with the NDFP and 
has proposals for amendments of bilateral 
agreements, then its negotiating panel should 
present these proposals at the next formal 
meeting of the two sides. But the bilateral 
agreements, as they stand, must be respected and 
complied with.