In my previous "GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Third Quarter of 2011" entry, Part I, I spoke at length about the ongoing JASIG impasse. JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, is a 1995 Joint Agreement that was designed to protect CPP/NPA/NDFP members directly involved in the Peace Process. Back in the first and only Round of the current GPH-NDFP cycle, in February of 2011, GPH Peace Panel Chairperson Alexander "Alex" Padilla had his wingman, GPH
Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad go to work on securing the release of what was then thirteen JASIG-protected personalities.
As Mr.Sanidad quickly found out, the stated task wasn't seriously considered by either Chairperson Padilla OR his superiors in the Aquino Administration. Like Mr.Padilla, Sanidad is an old hand in Philippine politics and just like Padilla he too had seriously flirted with the Philippine Left during the Marcos Era. A truly hellish time for anyone with even a scant shheen of principals, the Left offered the only cohesive way in which to approach the almost insane hypocrisy of Fidel Marcos and the nearly fifteen years of hell he created for the Philippines and its people.
Though Sanidad gravitated towards the other end of the political spectrum after the demise of Marcos in 1985, he still likes to imagine he has managed to retain an iota of scruples and a fair amount of idealism. Who knows? Maybe he is right on both counts. By the looks of it I'm willing to buy into the whole rigamorole since unlike his compatriot Mr.Padilla, Pablo Sanidad put his money where his mouth was and kissed the GPH Peace Panel goodbye.
Of course the powers that be wasted no time in shrugging their shoulders, taking out the master list compiled in July of 2010 and simply moved on to the first runner up, Efren Moncupa. Mr.Moncupa's resume could easily be mistaken for Mr.Sanidad's except for one gigantic discrepancy; Moncupa was arrested by the Marcos Regime and then spent just over a year as a political prisoner. On April 22nd, 1982 MIG-15 (Military Intelligence Group #15) nabbed Moncupa in Metro Manila's Quezon City. In the Government's line of thought vis a vis the GPH Peace Panel, it now has a token political prisoner to trot out in front of the cameras every six weeks or so. IF the NDFP wishes to talk about the detention of prisoners, let them talk to one, so goes the rationale. So what was Mr.Moncupa arrested for you ask? Simply for SUSPECTED membership in the NDFP, which of course was absolutely verboten with the implementation of Martial Law by former dictator Marcos after 1972. As it turned out he was cleared of the charges in two separate, parallel investigations by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines' Task Force Makabansa and the Quezon City Fiscal's Office. Although the charges involving the NDFP were dropped, Moncupa was still saddled with two other charges:
1) Illegal Posession of Firearms
2) Possesion of Seditious Material
On May 11th, 1983 Moncupa was released but was forbidden to speak publicly about his ordeal. In addition he was forbidden from leaving Metro Manila, obstensibly to prevent him from going underground like so many of his generation did. To those that knew him then, Moncupa would only smile as he described himself as having gotten through his ordeal in one piece.f course in reality the Government had put the screws to him and he promised to do anything they ask
In past incarnations Mr.Moncupa has served as an Under Secretary of Field Operations for the DAR, or the Department of Agrarian Reform, as well as having served on the Board of Administrators for the CDP, or Co-operative Development Corporation, a Government owned corporation. Just as his predecessor Pablo Sanidad, Mr.Moncupa served as an attorney who became well known for championing Human Rights and the rights of the poor. Indeed, when Sanidad was the Chairperson of FLAG, or the Free Legal Assistance Group, Moncupa served as his subordinate on FLAG's Executive Committee.
On September 20th, 2011, Mr.Moncupa got to play King for the Day as none other than P-Noy himself, yep, President Aquino swore in the newest member of the GPH Peace Panel. A man who served a year in prison for being charged with membership in the NDFP now sits with the Government negotiating WITH the NDFP, if this wasn't the Philippines it might be strange. As for how Mr.Moncupa will do, all one can ponder is whether or not Efren Moncupa will demonstrate even half the integrity of Pablito Sanidad. Moreover, when Mr.Sanidad tendered his resignation a news blackout- never a good sign- was implemented so as not to lose any of the momentum that was supposed to have been gained from the February Round in Oslo.
In fact, in the September 6th meeting in Makati where GPH Panel Chairperson Alex Padilla and his NDFP counterpart Luis G.Jalandoni shared a rushed lunch with the Norwegian Ambassador at his official residence in Makati, each man re-committed himself towards changing the status quo vis a vis the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, harnessing whatever momentum still may exist and most importantly, ALWAYS keep redundant lines of communication open so that the Chairpersons may, if they so choose, contact each other OR the Ambassador cum Facilitator personally (Ambassador Tore Lundh ALSO moonlights as the Facilitator of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process).
Chairperson Jalandoni had arrived in the Philippines on August 21st with wife Maria Consuela "Connie" Ledesma who happens to serve on the NDFP Peace Panel as well. This third visit in eleven months was primarily to push the JASIG envelope. To drum this important point home he and his wife paid a vist to most of the thirteen remaining JASIG-protected individuals still incarcerated as well as to touch bases with high ranking CPP/NPA/NDFP cadres.
Finally, Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles of OPAPP, or Office of the Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process, leaned on Congressman Joseph Emilio Abaya of Cavite Province on Luzon to author the Congressional Bill for her department's 2012 Budget. Ms.Deles is seeking a whopping P569.4 Million (US 8.5 Million). Of that astronomical amount a mere P240.29 Million is for OPAPP per se. The remaining amount, P329 Million, is for OPAPP's share of the PAMANA programme. PAMANA, or Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan, a developmemt scheme that is targeting both comprehensive governmental reform AND empowerment and improvement of 970 barangays in CAAs, or Conflict Affected Areas. Though it is nationwide it is particularly targeting Mindanao since this island has the pitiful distinction of being the most war torn of the Philippines' 7,107 islands. If one imagines that the P329 Million earmarked for PAMANA is a tad bit steep, they should realise that OPAPP is merely one of four Governmental entities kicking into the scheme. Between OPAPP and the other three:
1) DSWD, or Department of Social Welfare and Development
2) DPWH, or the Department of Public Works and Highways
3) DAR, or the Department of Agrarian Reform
The P329 Million from OPAPP is mostly earmarked for PAMANA's PDF, or Peace and Development Fund, with P291 Million going to PDF and the remaining P38 Million going for the administration and overhead relating to PDF that OPAPP must now assume. This cash will be disbursed as cash in the form of grants averaging P300,000 ($6,000) to targeted barangays for infrastructure and/or delivery of services. The picking and choosing of projects is reliant upon a mechanism popularly known as CDD (aaaaah, Filipinos and their penchant for acronyms), or, Community Driven Decisionmaking. In other words, barangays themselves will be choosing according to each community's needs as opposed to people who never even been to Mindanao, let alone CAAs and barangays, which are almost always so isolated that the local government almost never shows its face.
When the Budget made its way to the Upper House the Senate wasn't nearly as keen on the package as had been their compatriots in Congress. A couple of notable sticking points were the lack of breakdown as to how each peso will be spent. Then, Secretary Deles was questioned as to why OPAPP would be handling infrastructural development and delivery of basic services when those facets of governance are the provenance of two extant governmental entities, the aforementioned DPWH and the DSWD, respectively. When Deles stumbled the decision on the requested answers and background infi
ormation the decision was deferred. In parting Secretary Deles was also asked to bring a detailed dossier on just why she needed to have P329 Million as opposed to some other ambiguous amount in the stated hope that OPAPP's administrative costs vis a vis the PDF might be lowered substantially. In the end, as I noted, Ms.Deles did end up getting her Budget approved.
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