Jalandoni hits PNoy on peace talks

From the Visayan Daily Star (Mar 17): Jalandoni hits PNoy on peace talks

Former priest Luis Jalandoni said President Benigno Aquino III runs the risk of destroying chances for negotiated peace with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, with more than two years left of his term, by his acts of violating the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

Jalandoni, a Negrense, chairs the NDFP negotiating panel. In a statement it issued, he cited the attack of the framework and foundation agreement of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, and violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees by arresting and detaining their consultants, and JASIG protected personnel, among others.

He said the Royal Norwegian Government and peace advocates have declared support for the willingness of the NDFP to hold informal peace talks with the Aquino government. But he also said that President Aquino runs the risk of leaving a legacy as being the one who killed the peace talks with the NDFP.

Jalandoni also claimed that the appointment of former police General Lina Sarmiento as a chairperson of the Victims’ Claimants Board and the exclusion of genuine representatives of the almost 10,000 victims of human rights violations under the Marcos dictatorship, constitute acts to sabotage the GPH-NDFP peace talks.

The CARHRIHL of 1998 solemnly recognizeas the rights of the thousands of victims to be compensated through their rightful representatives. The exclusion of SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detention at Aresto) and other genuine representatives of the victims in the Claims Board are condemnable, he added.

Furthermore, by arresting hundreds of political prisoners and charging them with common crimes is a violation of the JASIG doctrine and the CARHRIHL, Jalandoni, also said in the statement.

Talks between the government and the NDF had been suspended since 2011 over the rebels' demand for the release of some of their detained commanders.

He added that the Aquino regime renders impossible the negotiations on social and economic reforms by declaring through Presidential Adviser on Peace Process, Teresita Deles, and government negotiating panel chairperson Alexander Padilla, that land reform and national industrialization are “ideologically charged concepts”, and therefore cannot be part of the agenda of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2014/March/17/topstory2.htm