From the Daily Tribune (Dec 1): Solons call for release of DND-DILG rebel list
Lawmakers affiliated with the Makabayan bloc yesterday hit the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Joint Order 14-2012 which lists an alleged “235 wanted communists” with an updated bounty on their heads of P466.88 million. The bloc also file House Resolution 2927 to investigate what they called “a very dangerous list.”
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares said “the list should be scrapped or at the very least there should be a full disclosure of such a listing, which in military terms is basically an order of battle.” “This list is essentially telling state security forces that the policy of neutralizing and eliminating activists and communists remain. Members of legal organizations and party-lists might be on the said list as the government continues to file and pursue fabricated charges and violate due-process rights of activists,” Colmenares said. “One very frightening consequence of this list is that certain military officials might resort to surveilling, arresting or killing fall guys, activists and anyone or producing fake surrenderees in order to get the money reward,” he added.
For his part, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said the Aquino administration refused to release the more than 401 political prisoners and continued to jail 13 National Democratic Front (NDF) consultants and personnel in violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (Jasig). “This DND-DILG increased-bounty list will also violate the Jasig and sabotage the already stalled peace talks, as the list includes NDF consultants and personnel. How can peace talks continue if the consultants for one side are always being threatened with arrest, harassment or being killed because of this list,” said Mariano.
Gabriela Women’s Rep. Luz Ilagan said the so-called rebel lists betray the insincerity of the Aquino government with regards to the peace talks with the communist group. “They are saying they are serious with the peace talks and yet it seems they want to have the peace negotiators arrested,” Ilagan said. “This so-called list can be used by death squads to assassinate anyone who is supposed to be there,” said Colmenares.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/7582-solons-call-for-release-of-dnd-dilg-rebel-list
First, this is a blatant effort on the part of known CPP-associated front group activists/ organizations to come to the aid of their insurgent brothers and sisters by attempting to discredit the DILG Joint Order 14-2012.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, as soon as the government discloses who is on the list, the insurgents and their front groups will assert that all the key leaders are members of the NDF negotiating team and therefore covered by JASIG. This is the same strategy they have adopted for virtually every high-level NDF/NPA cadre that has been captured by Philippine security forces.
On the issue of JASIG, the Philippine government position was made clear earlier this year in a statement from its peace negotiation panel engaged in talks with CPP/NDF leaders:
"However, last year, the GPH and NDF Panels agreed to activate this JASIG verification mechanism, in accordance with the terms of the 21 February 2011 Oslo Joint Statement. The GPH was concerned about the possibility of spurious NDF claims of JASIG coverage.
We all know what happened during the verification procedure which was participated in by representatives of the NDF and GPH Panels and witnessed by the RNG Third Party Facilitator and the Archbishop of Utrecht. It was discovered that the NDF had violated the JASIG rules by placing floppy discs with encrypted photographs in the safety deposit box, instead of hard copies of the alias holders’ pictures. Worse, the floppy discs could not be opened, allegedly because these had been corrupted over time. The undeniable outcome was failure because the NDF could not produce any of the needed photographs for the verification procedure.
This sorry situation has resulted in unverifiable aliases. While the GPH remains faithful to its commitment to release all verifiable JASIG-covered NDF consultants, it has no choice but to extend JASIG protection only to the persons in the JASIG list using their real names and those other NDF consultants who have been duly identified.
The NDF has made the release of its alleged consultants a precondition for the resumption of the talks. However, the GPH cannot blindly extend JASIG coverage to just anyone that the NDF alleges is covered, especially since the NDF has consistently claimed highly-placed captured party members to be covered by aliases in its JASIG list, without offering any proof.
The GPH asserts that a sacred commitment such as the JASIG must be honored with faithful compliance. Unfortunately, the NDF has been cavalier about its own commitment to the JASIG."
Secondly, CPP front groups also attempt to discredit the concept of military "order of battle" data maintained on a clandestine insurgent organization bent on the violent overthrow of the Philippine government as some nefarious tool to target civilian activists. The maintenance of order of battle data on insurgent oganizations is a legtimate military intelligence function.
And finally, they assert that the DILG order shows government "insincerity" of the GRP with regard to peace negotiations, a false claim by communist hypocrites who have never been sincere in their negotiations with the GRP from day one.
The proof of this is, unlike the MILF, the CPP/NDF/NPA refuses to declare a ceasefire as a show of good faith prior to engaging in meaningful talks. The group has engaged in the Maoist "talk and fight" strategy. Negotiations with the CPP/NDA are an exercise in futility. From the perspective of these old hardcore Maoists, the only way to end the fighing is through the total capitulation of the GRP and the handing over of the ship of state to the NDF. What is there to negotiate with these diehards when the seizure of state power is their ultimate objective and peace negotiations are viewed as just another tactic, along with both legal and armed struggle, to help them achieve their goal?