The Communist Party of the Philippines - National Democratic
Front (CPP-NDF) need to submit the names of their consultants who will be part
of the negotiating panel to be issued safe conduct pass when peace talks starts
mid of July.
Hernani Braganza, a senior member of the Government of the
Republic of the Philippines (GRP) peace panel over the weekend said at least 21
consultants and their staff who are presently locked behind bars and declared
as political prisoners need to get safe conduct pass from the Joint Agreement
on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG),
“We are only given 12 months to finish the job. We, in the
peace panel under the Duterte administration are veterans of peace talks and
what we need is to continue what we have finish to end the 47 years of
insurgency in the country,” Braganza told reporters at the weekly Saturday News
Forum at Annabel’s.
He said what they had agreed in the last three
administrations must prevail and those agreement which need Congress approval
should be followed.
Braganza, a former solon of Pangasinan, said progressive
bloc in the House of Representatives may sponsor a measure in seeking to grant
total amnesty to all political prisoners.
"May mga kailaganng procesong dapat sundin. May mga
progressive blocs naman sa Congress. They take the initiative of filing 'yung
batas na yun. How long will that take in Congress? Alam mo naman sa Congress
kulitan dyan 'di ba? Tignan natin," Braganza pointed out.
Progressive bloc who won and will be part of the 17th
Congress were party-lists of Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers, Anakpawis, Kabataan, and
Gabriela who has a total of eight members.
The bloc has yet to decide on whether it should join the
supermajority being formed by incoming House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to
facilitate President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's legislative agenda.
Braganza, together with their chairman, Silvetre “Bebot”
Bello III and Jess Dureza, went to The Netherlands to convinced Jose Maria
Sison and Luis Jalandoni to come home to the Philippines
Another way is by amnesty proclamation by the President, he
said, but still this is subject to concurrence by Congress.
He even recalled that this happened in 2010 when President
Benigno Aquino III pardoned military and police officers who took part in
failed attempts to unseat then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2003 to
2007.
When asked how many political prisoners are now in
captivity, the peace negotiator said there were 543.
He said, 18 were NDF consultants that were reportedly
covered by JASIG, 88 were ailing, and 48 were already in their senior years.
Braganza said both the NDF and the government panels would
assess who should be included in the amnesty list.
"When you talk about the JASIG, hindi lang yung mga
ilalabas sa kulungan, pati yung mga tao nila that will comprise their experts
na haharap sa experts ng mga gobyerno, yung security personnel nila, yung
secretariat nila will also be covered by JASIG so that they can also move
freely and consult with their constituency," he added.
As agreed by both the government and the NDFP panels, formal
peace negotiations between the government and NDF will resume in the third week
of July in Oslo , Norway
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=898713
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