U.S.-backed Philippine regime violates agreement
By Lydia Bayoneta
No more than a week after signing a solemn
agreement with the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines, the government of the Philippines has reneged on
the deal under pressure from the United States.
The NDFP is an alliance of revolutionary organizations
including the Com munist Party of the Philippines, the New
Peoples Army, peasant and farmer organizations, labor unions,
women's organizations, and student groups. Formed in 1973 at
the height of the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos,
the NDFP has carried on a principled and courageous struggle
for national sovereignty, social justice and peace. It is the
unchallenged leader of progressive forces in the
Philippines.
In early February, the government of President Gloria Arroyo
entered into peace talks with the NDFP in Oslo, Norway. This
was actually a resumption of talks that had been abruptly
canceled by the Philippine government in 2001.
On Feb. 14, there were widespread reports of a
"breakthrough." Indeed, a joint statement was signed on that
date by Luis Jalandoni of the NDFP and the Philippine
government chief negotiator, Silvestre Bello III. Also present
was Secretary Terecita Deles, head of the Philip pine
government office of the presidential advisor on the peace
process.
Less than a week later, the Philippine government
reneged.
U.S. torpedoes agreement
Early in 2002, President George W. Bush introduced U.S.
combat troops and Special Forces units into the Philippines
under the guise of "fighting terrorism."
The presence of foreign troops is a direct violation of the
Philippine constitution.
Later in 2002, Washington put the CPP and the NPA--as well
as Jose M. Sison, chief political consultant to the NDFP--on
its "terrorist list." The European Union soon followed
suit.
The Oslo Joint Statement signed on Feb. 14 called for the
Philippine government as well as the NDFP to take "effective
measures" to jointly and separately urge the U.S. government,
the Council of the European Union, and other concerned states
and governments to support the parties' efforts to resolve the
outstanding issue of the U.S.-sponsored terrorist listing of
the NDFP, New Peoples Army and Jose M. Sison.
Both parties agreed to pursue the removal of all of these
from the terrorist list.
Other key NDFP demands included: freeing all political
prisoners in the Philippines, implementing agreements already
signed by the government to respect human rights and
international humanitarian law, and indemnifying human rights
victims of the Marcos dictatorship.
Almost immediately, the United States registered its
disapproval of the agreement. The U.S. position on the matter
was arrogantly articulated by Joseph Musso meli, the U.S.
Embassy Charge d'Affaires, who said Washington would remove the
terrorist tag only after a final peace agreement was reached.
That, he said, would be an incentive for the CPP to forge peace
with the Philippine government.
"The NPA has been on the FTO list several years now," said
Mussomeli, referring to the Foreign Terrorist Organization.
"That's where they belong. They can talk. If they reach a peace
accord then they can get off the list. The FTO is really an
incentive to them to start talking and give up terrorism."
Translation: The government should use the terrorist tag as
a club to force the progressive forces in the Philippines to
capitulate.
Prominent members of the Philippine military, which is
currently engaged in joint operations with U.S. troops,
indicated that they would not honor the joint statement signed
by their own government. (Bulatlat.com)
The Philippine government was quick to back down. Secretary
Deles issued a statement that "inclusion of the CPP, NPA and
Sison in foreign terrorist list were sovereign acts of these
states [i.e. the U.S. and EU], independent of the Philippines'
disposition regarding these matters."
In other words, the Philippine government cannot do anything
about the listing since the United States is a "sovereign
state." This was a direct repudiation of what it had just
agreed to do. There was no mention of Philippine sovereignty,
of course.
It is not possible that the Philippine government was
confused about what the agreement contained. Deles had earlier
stated that she was "in constant touch" with Philippine
President Gloria Arroyo during the negotiations in order to
"fine tune" the language of the Oslo Joint Statement, including
the issue of the terrorist listing. (Philippine Headline
News)
It is rather obvious that what prompted the Philippine
government to renege was the U.S. reminder that it had
overreached its authority.
NDFP leader Luis Jalandoni quickly responded to Deles'
statement, saying it smacked of "treachery, malice and
deception."
"It is reprehensible for continuing to insist that the U.S.
government has the sovereign prerogative to violate the
national sovereignty of the Filipino people and the territorial
integrity of the Philippines by usurping jurisdiction over
revolutionary entities and events in the Philippines,"
Jalandoni said.
"The Macapagal-Arroyo regime must not engage in deception.
It must cease to insist so arrogantly that the de-listing would
happen only after the capitulation of the revolutionary forces.
In this regard, it should not act like the yelping dog of the
U.S."(Bulatlat.com)
Meanwhile, 2,500 U.S. troops are participating in live-fire
combat maneuvers in cooperation with Philippine government
troops from Feb. 23 to March 7. In 2002, Washington said it was
sending troops to battle the Abu Sayaff "terrorists,"
supposedly linked to Al Qaeda, in the Southern Philippines--but
it has since expanded their activities throughout the
Philippines.
The current operations, called Bali ka tan by the joint
forces, are officially characterized as "training
exercises"--but they are being carried out provocatively close
to territory controlled by the NPA. The NPA has warned that the
U.S. troops will be attacked if they enter their zones, and the
United States has said that its troops will fire on the NPA if
attacked.
As it violates Filipino sovereignty and seeks to destroy the
progressive forces, the U.S. blatantly refuses to allow the
Arroyo government to make peace with its own people.
Progressive people everywhere should expose the sham "war on
terrorism" being conducted by the U.S. government around the
world, and demand that it live up to the principles of
international law it continually violates.
Reprinted from the March 11, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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