Govt denies delaying talks with communist rebels

The government panel negotiating with the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on Wednesday denied that it is delaying the peace negotiations and threw the accusation at the other party. “The NDFP is wrong. They are the ones delaying the peace negotiations, not the GPH (Philippine government)," the panel said in a statement emailed to reporters. “They have continued to demand releases of their alleged consultants before proceeding to all important talks on substantive reforms." On Monday, NDFP panel spokesman Fidel Agcaoili accused government panel chair Alexander Padilla of being “foolish" for “hurling false and vicious accusations" against the NDFP. This was after Padilla said the government will not give in to “blackmail" amid reports that communist rebels may release Mayor Henry Dano of Lingig, Surigao del Sur, in exchange for the freedom of their detained comrades. Dano was abducted last Aug. 6. Agcaoili said Dano is being held and investigated for “actively participating in military operations against the people." According to the government panel, it was the NDFP that unilaterally postponed the agreed-upon bilateral talks of the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RWCs-SER) due to the failure of the government to release their alleged consultants. “They conveniently hid the fact that in accordance with the Oslo Joint Statement of 21 February 2011, releases are subject to verification," the government panel said, adding that the NDFP, since then, continued to demand releases as a precondition to any resumption of talks. “The RWCs-SER [has] been unable to meet, their resumption held hostage to NDF demands," the government panel said. It said in accordance with the agreed schedule and process to accelerate the negotiations recorded in the Oslo Joint Statement, the two panels were supposed to first have a series of three bilateral meetings, one in June and two in August, of the RWCs-SER. The meetings were supposed to focus solely on completing a common tentative draft of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) so that this could be submitted to the panels by September. The second round of formal negotiations would then be convened in order for the panels to discuss and finalize the common tentative draft CASER. The government panel said despite the failure of the RWCs-SER to meet, the NDF proposes to move directly into the second round of formal negotiations even without a CASER draft to finalize. It said the NDF even offered an agenda that subsumes abbreviated RWCs-SER discussions “that cannot realistically produce a common tentative draft CASER and which is loaded with many other issues as well." It further said the proposal is yet again preconditioned on the NDFP’s demand for releases of their alleged consultants. The government panel said they responded by saying that the two panels should first hold the RWCs-SER discussions and complete the common tentative draft CASER as per our agreement to accelerate the process, without any preconditions for releases. “These are clear arrangements in the said Oslo Joint Statement to which we had both given our imprimatur and which they now violate with impunity," it said. It added that in the meantime, the government has already released five of the NDFP’s priority consultants even though the verification process referred to in the Oslo Joint Statement failed. The government panel said the NDFP was unable to produce the photographs needed for verification. “The end result being then that none of their alleged consultants could therefore be verified. If none could be verified, there was no obligation on the part of government to release and that should any be made, the same was part of government’s confidence building measures," the government panel said. “The failure was theirs and theirs alone. They unfortunately responded by abducting 4 [Bureau of Jail Management and Penology] personnel and kidnapping Mayor Dano and two of his security escorts as well as escalating the levels of violence in Mindanao and Masbate," it added. The government panel said the negotiations have already gone 24 years and only one of four substantive agreements has been signed. It accused the NDFP of giving primacy to prisoner releases “over and above the completion of substantive agreements that address the root causes of the armed conflicts." In the same press statement Padilla said he “sees no reason to respond to the personal attacks of Mr. Fidel Agcaoili." Agcaoili accused of Padilla of scuttling the peace negotiations, both its regular and special tracks. “There is a Tagalog saying that concretely applies to the present situation: ang balasubas ay kailanma'y di mapagkakatiwalaan (one who reneges on agreements can never be trusted)," said Agcaoili. — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News