Showing posts with label CASER. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CASER. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process,Second Quarter of 2011,Part IV:The Talks are Breaking Down
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Monday, May 30, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process, First Quarter of 2011, Part II
Edwin Brigano's arrest early New Year's Day may have been the only blatant Ceasefire faux paux by the Philippine Government but it wasn't the last arrest of a major NDFP/CPP/NPA figure in the lead up to the formal resumption of the Peace Process on February 15, 2011. Just 4 days later an even larger NPA luminary would be taken down, and end up wearing a bullet for his trouble. If Brigano was considered a big fish for leading an NPA Front Command, how much more valuable was the arrest of Tirso "Ka Bart" Alcantara who commands an entire Regional Committee? Indeed, in his prime Alcantara nearly gained control over the entire NPA nationwide, but those days are long gone and today Alcantara leads the Southern Luzon Regional Committee.
Today Alcantara still busies himself with Tactical Planning but nearing his mid-60s he has gotten a bit too soft in the britches. How else then to explain just why he allowed himself to forgo the number one rule of revolutionries the world over by becoming a creature of habit? At 830PM on January 5, 2011, Alcantara and fellow NPA member Apolonio "Ka Polly" Cuatro had just left an NPA safehouse in Lucena City's Barangay Ibabang Iyam in Quezon Province when his luck finally ran out. A joint operation by Quezon PPO (Police Provincial Office) and the 1st Special Forces Battalion of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) fell upon him. Disregarding a command to raise his hands Alcantara ended up with a bullet in his rear.
The AFP would soon defend the operation claiming that Alcantara brought it all upon himself by reaching for a 45 caliber pistol tucked into his waistband. After securing their two prisoners the combined force recovered two hand grenades,nine blasting caps and five meters of detonating cord. Taken on 23 separate warrants for among other things, 8 counts of Murder and 2 counts of Robbery in a Band, Alcantara was down for the count. Intially taken to SOLCOM (Southern Luzon Command of the AFP) Headquarters Hospital at Lucena City's Camp Nakar he was soon transferred to Metro Manila's V.Luna Hospital where he was handcuffed with both wrists to the bed frame, in excruciating pain.
Naturally the NDFP/CPP/NPA screamed bloody murder, swearing up and down that Alcantara is yet another JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees) protected NDFP "Consultant to the Peace Process." Still, as loud as their collective voices screamed then, it would be nothing like the din they would raise on the initial opening of the resumed Talks in Oslo on February 15th. Just a day earlier, February 14th at 630PM the combined forces of the Baliuag MPO (Municipal Police Office) and the 56IB (Infantry Battalion) snared the Government's biggest catch yet, Alan Jazmines.
63 year old Jazmines is the Secretary General of the CPP, or Communist Party of the Philippines. Elected in 2008 as a compromise between two competing factions the ex-university lecturer cum poet slash Communist ideologue was arrested on 13 separate Murder charges in Barangay Subic in Bulacan Province's Baliuag. Initially taken to Camp Santos in Malolos, Bulacan he was quickly transferred to Camp Crame in Metro Manila's Quezon City. Coming as it did just hours before the Talks began there were critics from both ends of the political spectrum. Definitely not one of the brighter acts undertaken by the Government. When Jazmines protested, claiming JASIG protection, he was reportedly told, "F-ck JASIG." If any one quote could succinctly describe the GPH take on the Agreement, THAT would be it.
With Jazmine's incarceration the NDFP claim of wrongly jailed JASIG protected personalities topped out at 15 people. However, other than briefly, albeit strongly, touching upon these 15 cases in NDFP Peace Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni's Opening Speech on February 15th, THAT issue would have to wait until formal introduction vis a vis the Talks' itinerary.
As the second day began at 10AM on February 16th the two Panels agreed to re-convene Reciprocal Working Committees for the 2nd Component of the 4 Part Interim Agreement, or as both Panels refer to it in this embryonic stage,"Four Part Substantiative Agreement." The 4 components:
1) Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, aka "CARHRIHL." CARHRIHL was jointly signed on March 16, 1998.
2) Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reform, or "CASER." When Talks last ended in 2004 the 2 Peace Panels had agreed upon the Preamble and little more than its Declaration of Principles. CASER is considered to be the most difficult component and is the one being dealt with currently, with both sides aiming to sign it by September of 2011.
3) Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms, or "CAPCR."
4) Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces, or "CAEoH/DoF," though it is usually abbreviated as EoH/DoF.
The second facet, CASER, as noted is barely past the very first portion of that large facet. The Reciprocal Working Committee for CASER, or RCW-SER (RCW-Social Economic Reforms) was tasked with working out its own schedule within the facet's stated time frame.
Next the Panels discussed formation of Working Committees, or "WCs," to try and gain a head start on the 3rd facet,the Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reform. The idea being to ease the effort of the yet to be formed Reciprocal Working Committees (RWC) on the 3rd component, RWC-PCRs. The WCs will each have 1 Chairperson, 2 members, and 2 consultants. Though they did butt heads at this First Formal Round they will hold a series of bi-lateral meetings, the first to be held in April of 2011. There after they will hold 1 bi-lateral meeting in June and then again in August. The goal as it stands is the convening of RWC-PCRs by October of 2011. Each RWC-PCR can empanel a 3 to 5 person "Committee of Sages" or "Resource Persons."
Last on the agenda that second day, February 16th was the re-conveneing of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for CARHRIHL,the first component. The JMC-CARHRIHL had been disbanded not long after its last meeting in July of 2005. Since that time, nearly 6 years, no mechanism existed to receive complaints regarding perceived violations of CARHRIHL by either side. With no entity to receive these complaints absolutely nothing was done about them. At the re-convening the JMC discussed producing a set of Supplemental Guidelines on the JMC and agreed to submit a Draft on the issue at a later, still unspecified date. They also began working to establish Protocols for the Complaint Process vis a vis CARHRIHL and finally,agreed to meet in March of 2011.
Days 3 and 4, February 17th and 18th, consisted of the aforementioned RWC-SER, WC-PCR and JMC-CARHRIHL getting back into the groove as their compatriots on the actual Panels brainstormed amongst themselves.
The RCW-SERs began by simply removing each side's RWC's progress since their initial formation in 2001. As I have noted both in this entry and the preceding entry (Part I) the RWCs had been able to agree on Preamble and Declaration of Principles. Then the RWCs decided on a revised set of guidelines for their component's development process. In doing this they took into account the April of 2004 list of unresolved issues on the component. Lastly, the 2 RWCs agreed on a schedule of 3 bi-lateral meetings:
1) 2nd week of June, 2011, to discuss basis, scope and applicability. Currently there are still major conceptualisation and ideation issues. The NDFP aims for Agrarian Reform, but GPH refuses to even touch it above and beyond the ridiculous CARP and CARPER, virtually worthless programmes. I will discuss those Governmental boondoggles and NDFP opposition to them in an entry on CASER. For the sake of brevity, the GPH approached the NDFP's Agrarian Reform wishlist by referring to "Asset Reform." It needs to be noted that 2 weeks prior to this first bi-lateral meeting both RWCs will exchange Working Drafts on CASER, so that the 1st meeting is a revision meeting more than anything.
2) 2nd week of August, 2011, will serve to iron out whatever kinks still remain.
3) 4th week of August, 2011, simply to concur on any last minute additions or deletions.
On the 5th day of the Talks, February 19th, the entire day consisted of both Panels engaging in a plenary session regarding 5 issues:
1) JASIG Violations that had occurred in the 6 year interval between Formal Talks. Naturally most of this session was devoted to the afore mentioned 15 arrestees, especially Brigano, Alcantara and Jazmines.
2) Both Panels attempted to come to some sort of a consensus regarding acceptable lists on JASIG protected individuals. This is no easy feat in that despite JASIG having 2 subsequent signed Agreements that sought to rectify the very ambiguous wording regarding the issues of JASIG ID and the identity of ID holders since, per the Agreement, the JASIG IDs are printed under fictitious names.
3) The 2 Panels then heard the initial report of the just re-convened RCW-SERs.
4) They then heard the reports of the just re-convened WG-PCRs.
5) Finally,they heard the report of the just re-convened JMC-CARHRIHL.
Because of the limited amount of time the 6th day, February 20th was reserved for completion of the previous day's plenary session.
On the final day, February 21st, both Panels issued a Joint Communique after which a brief Closing Ceremony was held and finally both Panel Chairpersons, the GPH's Alex Padilla and the NDFP's Luis Jalandoni held the customary Question and Answer Session. Except for a near bombshell of a revelation by Jalandoni, which was fully confirmed by Padilla, there was nothing worth noting. The bombshell being that the CPP/NPA is no longer considered to be a terrorist organisation by the Government. The listing had been the product of vindictiveness when the NDFP/CPP/NPA had refused then President Arroyo's precondition of an unconditional ceasefire prior to sitting backdown to the table in the early months of her Presidency. It took her nearly three years but in 2004 she got her wish as the United States ridiculously added the CPP/NPA to its list of terrorist organisations. When the EU moved to follow suit the Talks collapsed.It is was a positive development indeed because truth be told, for all its very real faults, the CPP/NPA is far from anything "terrorist." No word as to whether President Aquino will move to have the US re-consider its placement of the group on its list.
Today Alcantara still busies himself with Tactical Planning but nearing his mid-60s he has gotten a bit too soft in the britches. How else then to explain just why he allowed himself to forgo the number one rule of revolutionries the world over by becoming a creature of habit? At 830PM on January 5, 2011, Alcantara and fellow NPA member Apolonio "Ka Polly" Cuatro had just left an NPA safehouse in Lucena City's Barangay Ibabang Iyam in Quezon Province when his luck finally ran out. A joint operation by Quezon PPO (Police Provincial Office) and the 1st Special Forces Battalion of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) fell upon him. Disregarding a command to raise his hands Alcantara ended up with a bullet in his rear.
The AFP would soon defend the operation claiming that Alcantara brought it all upon himself by reaching for a 45 caliber pistol tucked into his waistband. After securing their two prisoners the combined force recovered two hand grenades,nine blasting caps and five meters of detonating cord. Taken on 23 separate warrants for among other things, 8 counts of Murder and 2 counts of Robbery in a Band, Alcantara was down for the count. Intially taken to SOLCOM (Southern Luzon Command of the AFP) Headquarters Hospital at Lucena City's Camp Nakar he was soon transferred to Metro Manila's V.Luna Hospital where he was handcuffed with both wrists to the bed frame, in excruciating pain.
Naturally the NDFP/CPP/NPA screamed bloody murder, swearing up and down that Alcantara is yet another JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees) protected NDFP "Consultant to the Peace Process." Still, as loud as their collective voices screamed then, it would be nothing like the din they would raise on the initial opening of the resumed Talks in Oslo on February 15th. Just a day earlier, February 14th at 630PM the combined forces of the Baliuag MPO (Municipal Police Office) and the 56IB (Infantry Battalion) snared the Government's biggest catch yet, Alan Jazmines.
63 year old Jazmines is the Secretary General of the CPP, or Communist Party of the Philippines. Elected in 2008 as a compromise between two competing factions the ex-university lecturer cum poet slash Communist ideologue was arrested on 13 separate Murder charges in Barangay Subic in Bulacan Province's Baliuag. Initially taken to Camp Santos in Malolos, Bulacan he was quickly transferred to Camp Crame in Metro Manila's Quezon City. Coming as it did just hours before the Talks began there were critics from both ends of the political spectrum. Definitely not one of the brighter acts undertaken by the Government. When Jazmines protested, claiming JASIG protection, he was reportedly told, "F-ck JASIG." If any one quote could succinctly describe the GPH take on the Agreement, THAT would be it.
With Jazmine's incarceration the NDFP claim of wrongly jailed JASIG protected personalities topped out at 15 people. However, other than briefly, albeit strongly, touching upon these 15 cases in NDFP Peace Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni's Opening Speech on February 15th, THAT issue would have to wait until formal introduction vis a vis the Talks' itinerary.
As the second day began at 10AM on February 16th the two Panels agreed to re-convene Reciprocal Working Committees for the 2nd Component of the 4 Part Interim Agreement, or as both Panels refer to it in this embryonic stage,"Four Part Substantiative Agreement." The 4 components:
1) Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, aka "CARHRIHL." CARHRIHL was jointly signed on March 16, 1998.
2) Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reform, or "CASER." When Talks last ended in 2004 the 2 Peace Panels had agreed upon the Preamble and little more than its Declaration of Principles. CASER is considered to be the most difficult component and is the one being dealt with currently, with both sides aiming to sign it by September of 2011.
3) Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms, or "CAPCR."
4) Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces, or "CAEoH/DoF," though it is usually abbreviated as EoH/DoF.
The second facet, CASER, as noted is barely past the very first portion of that large facet. The Reciprocal Working Committee for CASER, or RCW-SER (RCW-Social Economic Reforms) was tasked with working out its own schedule within the facet's stated time frame.
Next the Panels discussed formation of Working Committees, or "WCs," to try and gain a head start on the 3rd facet,the Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reform. The idea being to ease the effort of the yet to be formed Reciprocal Working Committees (RWC) on the 3rd component, RWC-PCRs. The WCs will each have 1 Chairperson, 2 members, and 2 consultants. Though they did butt heads at this First Formal Round they will hold a series of bi-lateral meetings, the first to be held in April of 2011. There after they will hold 1 bi-lateral meeting in June and then again in August. The goal as it stands is the convening of RWC-PCRs by October of 2011. Each RWC-PCR can empanel a 3 to 5 person "Committee of Sages" or "Resource Persons."
Last on the agenda that second day, February 16th was the re-conveneing of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for CARHRIHL,the first component. The JMC-CARHRIHL had been disbanded not long after its last meeting in July of 2005. Since that time, nearly 6 years, no mechanism existed to receive complaints regarding perceived violations of CARHRIHL by either side. With no entity to receive these complaints absolutely nothing was done about them. At the re-convening the JMC discussed producing a set of Supplemental Guidelines on the JMC and agreed to submit a Draft on the issue at a later, still unspecified date. They also began working to establish Protocols for the Complaint Process vis a vis CARHRIHL and finally,agreed to meet in March of 2011.
Days 3 and 4, February 17th and 18th, consisted of the aforementioned RWC-SER, WC-PCR and JMC-CARHRIHL getting back into the groove as their compatriots on the actual Panels brainstormed amongst themselves.
The RCW-SERs began by simply removing each side's RWC's progress since their initial formation in 2001. As I have noted both in this entry and the preceding entry (Part I) the RWCs had been able to agree on Preamble and Declaration of Principles. Then the RWCs decided on a revised set of guidelines for their component's development process. In doing this they took into account the April of 2004 list of unresolved issues on the component. Lastly, the 2 RWCs agreed on a schedule of 3 bi-lateral meetings:
1) 2nd week of June, 2011, to discuss basis, scope and applicability. Currently there are still major conceptualisation and ideation issues. The NDFP aims for Agrarian Reform, but GPH refuses to even touch it above and beyond the ridiculous CARP and CARPER, virtually worthless programmes. I will discuss those Governmental boondoggles and NDFP opposition to them in an entry on CASER. For the sake of brevity, the GPH approached the NDFP's Agrarian Reform wishlist by referring to "Asset Reform." It needs to be noted that 2 weeks prior to this first bi-lateral meeting both RWCs will exchange Working Drafts on CASER, so that the 1st meeting is a revision meeting more than anything.
2) 2nd week of August, 2011, will serve to iron out whatever kinks still remain.
3) 4th week of August, 2011, simply to concur on any last minute additions or deletions.
On the 5th day of the Talks, February 19th, the entire day consisted of both Panels engaging in a plenary session regarding 5 issues:
1) JASIG Violations that had occurred in the 6 year interval between Formal Talks. Naturally most of this session was devoted to the afore mentioned 15 arrestees, especially Brigano, Alcantara and Jazmines.
2) Both Panels attempted to come to some sort of a consensus regarding acceptable lists on JASIG protected individuals. This is no easy feat in that despite JASIG having 2 subsequent signed Agreements that sought to rectify the very ambiguous wording regarding the issues of JASIG ID and the identity of ID holders since, per the Agreement, the JASIG IDs are printed under fictitious names.
3) The 2 Panels then heard the initial report of the just re-convened RCW-SERs.
4) They then heard the reports of the just re-convened WG-PCRs.
5) Finally,they heard the report of the just re-convened JMC-CARHRIHL.
Because of the limited amount of time the 6th day, February 20th was reserved for completion of the previous day's plenary session.
On the final day, February 21st, both Panels issued a Joint Communique after which a brief Closing Ceremony was held and finally both Panel Chairpersons, the GPH's Alex Padilla and the NDFP's Luis Jalandoni held the customary Question and Answer Session. Except for a near bombshell of a revelation by Jalandoni, which was fully confirmed by Padilla, there was nothing worth noting. The bombshell being that the CPP/NPA is no longer considered to be a terrorist organisation by the Government. The listing had been the product of vindictiveness when the NDFP/CPP/NPA had refused then President Arroyo's precondition of an unconditional ceasefire prior to sitting backdown to the table in the early months of her Presidency. It took her nearly three years but in 2004 she got her wish as the United States ridiculously added the CPP/NPA to its list of terrorist organisations. When the EU moved to follow suit the Talks collapsed.It is was a positive development indeed because truth be told, for all its very real faults, the CPP/NPA is far from anything "terrorist." No word as to whether President Aquino will move to have the US re-consider its placement of the group on its list.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Second Quarter of 2011: CASER, Part I
The Filipino penchant for acronyms are a writer's nightmare. Either one operates under the assumption that their readership is just as anally retentive as they are in being up to date with obscure groupings of capital letters or else a writer can easily become the modern day equivalent of Tristram Shandy. For those not recognising that name, he was an 18th Century literary character who would take twenty pages just to describe the weather. I try to compensate by defining most acronyms and including the definition in parentheses, or else immediately after the acronym itself. Now that I have put you to sleep...
The NDFP, or National Democratic Front of the Philippines, was formerly known as the NDF. Recognising that the world is full of NDFs the deeply thinking pseudo-intellectuals of the Philippine far left conceptualised, after much internal debate, an addition to differentiate THEIR NDF from all the others. Their brainstorm of course was to simply add the word "Philippines" at the end. This leap of imagination best typifies a movement that sees the Long March as the pinnacle of human existence. The NDFP itself was created in 1971 (officially though it was founded on April 24, 1973) as a way in which to semi-legitamise the Leftist gameplan. Since the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) went underground along with its armed wing the NPA (New Peoples Army) early on the powers that be feared marginalisation as the opposition to then dictator Ferdinand Marcos grew and more mainstream segments of Philippine society began heeding the drum call and joing the struggle to topple then dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The solution was an above board organisational umbrella with which to control the vast majority of hard Left, and even the center Left student organisations,labor unions and NGO/CSOs,known in AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) parlance as, "Multi-Sectoral Front Organizations," [sic] or "Sectoral Front Organizations" [sic] in shorthand.
When the NPA finally entered the Peace Process at the dawn of the post-Marcos Era the CPP decided that it would be much safer to approach the negotiations in a tenative manner rather than having the CPP surface and suddenly re-enter the political arena. First and foremost were security concerns. While the nation was full of optimism and good cheer noone really knew which way the wind was blowing. More over, the AFP and PC (Philippine Constabulary, the paramilitary national police force entirely dedicated to Counterinsurgency) hadn't been purged. The same Marcos Era goons that had grown so adept at torture were still in the driver's seat. As is the case in most any nation,the armed forces are the real power independent of who is sitting as president.
Ergo the GPH-NDFP Peace Process is actually the GPH-CPP/NPA/NDFP Peace Process. "GPH" of course is the jazzy new acronym for the "Government of the Philippines." The new Administration, under President Aquino, so despised its predecessor under former President Arroyo, that it even tossed its acronym out with the trash (actually, it lobbied the international body that configures universal acronyms to change it). As they say, "Out with the old and in with the new," goodbye GRP, Government of the Republic of the Philippines, hello GPH, Government of the Philippines.
As I noted in my "GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the First Quarter of 2011" entry, the First Round of the resumed Peace Process took place in Oslo,Norway. from February 15th to the 21st, 2011. The Process, as I noted in that entry,had begun way back in 1992 making it the second oldest set of negotiations in the country.They have a long way to go before they have a chance of eclipsing the MNLF whose Talks began in 1974. Let us hope and pray that never happens. Still, at the rate that the NDFP Talks are currently taking it may just happen.
With this in mind President Aquino has set an 18 to 36 month window for a Final Peace Agreement. Ambitious to say the least. How much more so when neither side has officially sat down with one another since 2004 and barely evrn began the second of four Interim Agreements that must precede that FPA. When last they met the Arroyo Government had just succeeded in getting the United States to add the CPP and NPA to its list of Terrorist Organisations. More over, the EU had begun following suit and was debating doing the same. This listing has very real reprecussions. All bank accounts and liquid assets are immediately frozen, air travel ends, and if one is abroad they are almost always deported to their home nation since their travel documents are rescinded.In 2004 the CPP/NPA/NDFP leadership was in voluntary exile in the Netherlands. At home in the Philippines the Arroyo Government had secured trumped up Arrest Warrants against most of the combined leadership for multiple counts of murder under the doctrine of Command Responsibility. Among other things these developments placed the NDFP Peace Panel directly under the Government's thumb on the negotiating table. The NDFP really didn't have a choice in immediately ending any and all negotiations.
Drawing on the "Hague Joint Declaration of Principles" (1992) as a blueprint for the FPA, the Process was divided into four scantily defined phases.Without timetables, or Comprehensive Compacts, Peace Process speak for Interim Agreements. The Peace Panels were to hammer out each of the four modules separately, one at a time. The 4 modules:
1) CARHRIHL, or Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, defines each sides perception on how to best observe basic Human Rights and extant International Humanitarian Law.
2) CASER, or Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms, is the crux of the FPA, the vast bulk of the CPP/NPA/NDFP catalogue of grievances involve disparities in the availability and administration of social justice along with a desire for economic parity. The module is broken down into facets such as issues concerning IPs (Indigenous Peoples, the Philippine non-sensical label applied to primarily Animist Hilltribes), especially the perennial white elephant AD (Ancestral Domain). AD has defined five of the nation's insurgencies:
A) MNLF/BMA (Moro National Liberation Front/Bansamoro Armed Forces)
B) MILF/BIAF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front/Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces)
C) CPLA (Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army)
D) RPM-M (Revolutionary Proletariat Movement of Mindanao
E) NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines/New Peoples Army)
It attaches economic and cultural rights to large portions of rural land.Administered currently through NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) it allows organisational representatives to obtain title (CADs,or Certificates of Ancestral Domain) to these large portions of land in the name of specific tribes. The CAD holder can then enter into financial arrangements centering on exploitation of natural resources. The issue is considered so central to an FPA that the failure to secure a joint agreement on the issue in the Summer of 2008 led to an actual war, the afore mentioned War of 2008.
Another facet is Agrarian Reform. The CPP/NPA/NDFP feels that the nation's previous attempts at equitable settlements and land re-distribution had failed miserably. In the Administration of Corazon "Cory" Aqunio, the President's late mother, the Government implemented CARP, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Package. Then, in 2009, then President Arroyo merely took it out of its box and shined it up a bit. Her package, CARPER,or CARP Extension with Reforms, offers absolutely no substaniative differences. The CPP et al's main problem with the two programmes is that both charge the recipient for land. They view it as non-sensical since landless farmers are indigent at best and more often than not they are completely destitute. Then,having no training in how to budget, handle responsibilities associated with land ownership and offering absolutely no materiel support (such as irrigation, post-harvest conditioning like rice dryers or spraying) there isn't much room for success. A good many recipients end up right back in debt and then end up selling their plots back to big land owners at low prices. Thus it is deemed by the CPP/NPA/NDFP (amongst others) as merely being a bandaid. Instead the correctly argue that any Agarian Reform package should work to treat the festering sore underneath the skin, not just offer a topical, cosmetic solution. I will go into great detail about this and other facets and modules in an upcoming entry.
Another important aspect concerns something the CPP/NPA/NDFP calls "National Industrialization" [sic]. Basically it's a tuned up "Nationalisation" scheme that takes aim at the multi-nationals dominating certain industries like mining or large scale agricultural plantations. Understandably the Government doesn't even want to touch it. In fact, it has been contesting the very phrase which was included in the NDFP proffered Draft on CASER way back in 1998. When the two sides had last met, in April of 2004, they had just had hammered out the CASER Preamble and opened the discussion on CASER's Joint Declaration of Princples. That is basically where both sides were when the Peace Process began anew this past February.
3) CAPCR, or Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms. Naturally, nothing has been accomplished with regard to this module which has been given a 6 month window,to be completed by February of 2012. As I said, President Aquino is ambitious to say the least.
4) EoH/DoF, or End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces. This last module will be the easiest, with both sides very sure of the final structure. The MNLF of course faced a similar hurdle and managed it reasonably well, all things considered. Almost 6,000 guerillas were absorbed, or "Integrated" into the AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police). Will the NPA go the same route, it is very doubtful. I reckon they will convert into similarly structured elements concentrating on community service endeavours but since this module hasn't even been tabled in Informal Rounds it would be pre-mature to discuss the "what ifs" to say the least. The window given for this module is a mere 4 months. Usually panels attempt to reach FPAs by discussing their easiest components first and then spending most time and energy on solving the more difficult points. To the credit of the new GPH Panel it has insisted upon reversing the formula. Tackling the most difficult of the three remaining modules it aims to then approach the more difficult of the remaining two, CAPCR third.
In the meantime the two Panels have assigned their respective RCWs (Reciprocal Working Committees) the onerous task of hashing out whatever highly contentious issues may remain ahead of the next Round, in June. Having identified the most disparate of the collective demands at the February Round the Panels have assigned the RCWs the herculean task of dragging their positions closer to their counterpart's. Each RWC, or to be exact RCW-SER (RCW Social and Economic Reforms) has a Chairperson and two Committee Members. The GPH RWC-SCR is Chaired by GPH Peace Panel Member Ednar Dayanghirang and:
1) Fr.Alberto "Paring Bert" Alejo, a Jesuit Priest and academic at Ateneo de Davao University. An accomplished poet Father Bert Chairs the "Peace Studies Consortium" at Mindanao's most prestigious university. Long an advocate for non-violent political solutions Father Alejo has long involved himself with pacifist NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) and CSOs (Civil Society Organisations, NGOs devoted to good governance and social justice issues). A member of Mindanao's"Bishop-Ulama Conference, he was chosen to Chair its "Konsult Mindanaw." Konsult, or KM, is devoted to increasing stakeholder participation in various non-violent forms of advocacy. Still, Fr.Alejo is probably best known for his concurrent role as Spokesperson for former CoA (Commission of Audit) Auditor Heidi Mendoza. Ms.Mendoza plays a central role in the Major General Carlos F.Garcia Case (a case I devoted an entire entry to, the first in what will be a series on the former officer and his cronies.
2) Dr.Fernando Aldaba, PhD, an Assistant Professor at Ateneo de Manila University, a sister institution of the Ateneo de Davao. An ex-Chairperson of the school's Economics Department Dr.Aldaba also held the Presidency of the Philippine Economics Society (PES). Highly active in both Labor Relations and economic development he has joined intiatives through the ASEAN Nations.
The NDFP RWC-SER Chairperson is Juliet de Lima (as in Juliet de Lima Sison) with Committee Members:
1) Randall "Ka Randy" Echanis, a member of the CPP's Central Committe has spent a good part of the last 40 years in prison. Arrested in 1983 by none other than Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Hosanan who at that point led the Presidenti Security Group (PSG, a much feared Marcos Era special military force and Intelligence apparatus designed to stave off coup attempts against Marcos). Echanis was then placed in solitary confinement in Camp Aguinaldo,the AFP Heaquarters in Metro Manila's Quezon City before being shipped to Cebu. Released in 1992 Echanis returned to his commitments, true to form.
In 2008 Echanis was no longer working underground. Spending most of his time doing Labour Organising and performing outreach work, he was conducting a Forum for the National Federation of Sugar Workers involving the outlining of the then pending HB #3059, otherwise known as GARB, or Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill. As Echanis talked at Building Trainers Center [sic] in Negros Island's Barangay Calumangan, Bago City, Negros Occidental Province, a joint element of AFP and PNP raided the building and served Echanis with a warrant out of Leyte Island's Leyte Province accusing him of Multiple Murder for a mass grave discovered in Hilongos, Leyte. Not accused of direct, or even indirect participation, the warrant was predicated upon the aforementioned protocol of Commamd Responsibility. Since Echanis was sitting on the CPP Central Committe when the atrocity took place, and had retained that position ever since, under the principle of Command Responsibility he was just as guilty for the atrocity. Along with Echanis, his wife Erlinada Lacaba Echanis and their 2 year old daughter Amanda were incarcerated as well, making their toddler the youngest politiprison inmate in Modern Filipino History.
Released in 2009 as a concession to the CPP/NPA/NDFP in a bid to finally re-start the Peace Process, the NDFP gave him official status as a Peace Process Consultant,the primary rationale being to provide him with protection from yet another arrest and incarceration via the aforementioned JASIG.
2) Rafael Baylosis, is a former Secretary General of the CPP as well as currently serving on the party's Central Committee. No stranger to jail himself, Mr.Baylosis was nabbed in 1988 as he and five other extremely high ranking members of the movement were just pulling away from the curb in Manila's San Juan District. The arrest by a joint force from the IS-AFP and NISF (Naval Intelligence Security Force) came at the tail end of a 2 month period that had grabbed the bulk of the CPP and NPA leadership.
The 2 month period was itself part of 4 year period in which the party turned inward and began attacking its own. This in-fighting is known popularly as the DPA Purge. DPA, or Deep Penatration Agent, has never existed. The closest thing to it had been a Magsaysay Era deployment of a look-alike force that eventually decimated nearly everyone in one large and notable Huk cell. The DPA Purge then was merely the usual Leftist paranoia that has plagued every single Communist Movement. The closest thing to a DPA vis a vis the NPA were NPA members were induced to become informants for the Government. A "DPA" denotes actual Government personnel who then join the NPA as spies. This has b
As for RWC-SER Chairpersons, GPH's Edgar Dayanghirang is a Mindanowan Lumad ("Lumad" being a Cebuano equivalent to the Tagalog labeled"Tingguians"or"Igorotes." All three terms denote Animist Hilltribes). Mr.Dayanghirang is a mango farmer cum cable public access fixture in the Davao City area. His appointment to the GPH Peace Panel marks his first substantial role in government.
Mr Dayanghirang's. NDFP counterpart is. Ms.Julieta de Lima Sison, none other than the wife of CPP/NPA founder, Jose Maria "Joma" Sison. Living with her husband in Utrecht the Netherlands,she isn't that familiar with people outside the movement's hierarchy. Like Mr.Echanis and Mr.Baylosis the JASIG Guarantees have served as the impetus behind her appointments.
To be continued...
The NDFP, or National Democratic Front of the Philippines, was formerly known as the NDF. Recognising that the world is full of NDFs the deeply thinking pseudo-intellectuals of the Philippine far left conceptualised, after much internal debate, an addition to differentiate THEIR NDF from all the others. Their brainstorm of course was to simply add the word "Philippines" at the end. This leap of imagination best typifies a movement that sees the Long March as the pinnacle of human existence. The NDFP itself was created in 1971 (officially though it was founded on April 24, 1973) as a way in which to semi-legitamise the Leftist gameplan. Since the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) went underground along with its armed wing the NPA (New Peoples Army) early on the powers that be feared marginalisation as the opposition to then dictator Ferdinand Marcos grew and more mainstream segments of Philippine society began heeding the drum call and joing the struggle to topple then dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The solution was an above board organisational umbrella with which to control the vast majority of hard Left, and even the center Left student organisations,labor unions and NGO/CSOs,known in AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) parlance as, "Multi-Sectoral Front Organizations," [sic] or "Sectoral Front Organizations" [sic] in shorthand.
When the NPA finally entered the Peace Process at the dawn of the post-Marcos Era the CPP decided that it would be much safer to approach the negotiations in a tenative manner rather than having the CPP surface and suddenly re-enter the political arena. First and foremost were security concerns. While the nation was full of optimism and good cheer noone really knew which way the wind was blowing. More over, the AFP and PC (Philippine Constabulary, the paramilitary national police force entirely dedicated to Counterinsurgency) hadn't been purged. The same Marcos Era goons that had grown so adept at torture were still in the driver's seat. As is the case in most any nation,the armed forces are the real power independent of who is sitting as president.
Ergo the GPH-NDFP Peace Process is actually the GPH-CPP/NPA/NDFP Peace Process. "GPH" of course is the jazzy new acronym for the "Government of the Philippines." The new Administration, under President Aquino, so despised its predecessor under former President Arroyo, that it even tossed its acronym out with the trash (actually, it lobbied the international body that configures universal acronyms to change it). As they say, "Out with the old and in with the new," goodbye GRP, Government of the Republic of the Philippines, hello GPH, Government of the Philippines.
As I noted in my "GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the First Quarter of 2011" entry, the First Round of the resumed Peace Process took place in Oslo,Norway. from February 15th to the 21st, 2011. The Process, as I noted in that entry,had begun way back in 1992 making it the second oldest set of negotiations in the country.They have a long way to go before they have a chance of eclipsing the MNLF whose Talks began in 1974. Let us hope and pray that never happens. Still, at the rate that the NDFP Talks are currently taking it may just happen.
With this in mind President Aquino has set an 18 to 36 month window for a Final Peace Agreement. Ambitious to say the least. How much more so when neither side has officially sat down with one another since 2004 and barely evrn began the second of four Interim Agreements that must precede that FPA. When last they met the Arroyo Government had just succeeded in getting the United States to add the CPP and NPA to its list of Terrorist Organisations. More over, the EU had begun following suit and was debating doing the same. This listing has very real reprecussions. All bank accounts and liquid assets are immediately frozen, air travel ends, and if one is abroad they are almost always deported to their home nation since their travel documents are rescinded.In 2004 the CPP/NPA/NDFP leadership was in voluntary exile in the Netherlands. At home in the Philippines the Arroyo Government had secured trumped up Arrest Warrants against most of the combined leadership for multiple counts of murder under the doctrine of Command Responsibility. Among other things these developments placed the NDFP Peace Panel directly under the Government's thumb on the negotiating table. The NDFP really didn't have a choice in immediately ending any and all negotiations.
Drawing on the "Hague Joint Declaration of Principles" (1992) as a blueprint for the FPA, the Process was divided into four scantily defined phases.Without timetables, or Comprehensive Compacts, Peace Process speak for Interim Agreements. The Peace Panels were to hammer out each of the four modules separately, one at a time. The 4 modules:
1) CARHRIHL, or Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, defines each sides perception on how to best observe basic Human Rights and extant International Humanitarian Law.
2) CASER, or Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms, is the crux of the FPA, the vast bulk of the CPP/NPA/NDFP catalogue of grievances involve disparities in the availability and administration of social justice along with a desire for economic parity. The module is broken down into facets such as issues concerning IPs (Indigenous Peoples, the Philippine non-sensical label applied to primarily Animist Hilltribes), especially the perennial white elephant AD (Ancestral Domain). AD has defined five of the nation's insurgencies:
A) MNLF/BMA (Moro National Liberation Front/Bansamoro Armed Forces)
B) MILF/BIAF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front/Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces)
C) CPLA (Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army)
D) RPM-M (Revolutionary Proletariat Movement of Mindanao
E) NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines/New Peoples Army)
It attaches economic and cultural rights to large portions of rural land.Administered currently through NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) it allows organisational representatives to obtain title (CADs,or Certificates of Ancestral Domain) to these large portions of land in the name of specific tribes. The CAD holder can then enter into financial arrangements centering on exploitation of natural resources. The issue is considered so central to an FPA that the failure to secure a joint agreement on the issue in the Summer of 2008 led to an actual war, the afore mentioned War of 2008.
Another facet is Agrarian Reform. The CPP/NPA/NDFP feels that the nation's previous attempts at equitable settlements and land re-distribution had failed miserably. In the Administration of Corazon "Cory" Aqunio, the President's late mother, the Government implemented CARP, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Package. Then, in 2009, then President Arroyo merely took it out of its box and shined it up a bit. Her package, CARPER,or CARP Extension with Reforms, offers absolutely no substaniative differences. The CPP et al's main problem with the two programmes is that both charge the recipient for land. They view it as non-sensical since landless farmers are indigent at best and more often than not they are completely destitute. Then,having no training in how to budget, handle responsibilities associated with land ownership and offering absolutely no materiel support (such as irrigation, post-harvest conditioning like rice dryers or spraying) there isn't much room for success. A good many recipients end up right back in debt and then end up selling their plots back to big land owners at low prices. Thus it is deemed by the CPP/NPA/NDFP (amongst others) as merely being a bandaid. Instead the correctly argue that any Agarian Reform package should work to treat the festering sore underneath the skin, not just offer a topical, cosmetic solution. I will go into great detail about this and other facets and modules in an upcoming entry.
Another important aspect concerns something the CPP/NPA/NDFP calls "National Industrialization" [sic]. Basically it's a tuned up "Nationalisation" scheme that takes aim at the multi-nationals dominating certain industries like mining or large scale agricultural plantations. Understandably the Government doesn't even want to touch it. In fact, it has been contesting the very phrase which was included in the NDFP proffered Draft on CASER way back in 1998. When the two sides had last met, in April of 2004, they had just had hammered out the CASER Preamble and opened the discussion on CASER's Joint Declaration of Princples. That is basically where both sides were when the Peace Process began anew this past February.
3) CAPCR, or Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms. Naturally, nothing has been accomplished with regard to this module which has been given a 6 month window,to be completed by February of 2012. As I said, President Aquino is ambitious to say the least.
4) EoH/DoF, or End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces. This last module will be the easiest, with both sides very sure of the final structure. The MNLF of course faced a similar hurdle and managed it reasonably well, all things considered. Almost 6,000 guerillas were absorbed, or "Integrated" into the AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police). Will the NPA go the same route, it is very doubtful. I reckon they will convert into similarly structured elements concentrating on community service endeavours but since this module hasn't even been tabled in Informal Rounds it would be pre-mature to discuss the "what ifs" to say the least. The window given for this module is a mere 4 months. Usually panels attempt to reach FPAs by discussing their easiest components first and then spending most time and energy on solving the more difficult points. To the credit of the new GPH Panel it has insisted upon reversing the formula. Tackling the most difficult of the three remaining modules it aims to then approach the more difficult of the remaining two, CAPCR third.
In the meantime the two Panels have assigned their respective RCWs (Reciprocal Working Committees) the onerous task of hashing out whatever highly contentious issues may remain ahead of the next Round, in June. Having identified the most disparate of the collective demands at the February Round the Panels have assigned the RCWs the herculean task of dragging their positions closer to their counterpart's. Each RWC, or to be exact RCW-SER (RCW Social and Economic Reforms) has a Chairperson and two Committee Members. The GPH RWC-SCR is Chaired by GPH Peace Panel Member Ednar Dayanghirang and:
1) Fr.Alberto "Paring Bert" Alejo, a Jesuit Priest and academic at Ateneo de Davao University. An accomplished poet Father Bert Chairs the "Peace Studies Consortium" at Mindanao's most prestigious university. Long an advocate for non-violent political solutions Father Alejo has long involved himself with pacifist NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) and CSOs (Civil Society Organisations, NGOs devoted to good governance and social justice issues). A member of Mindanao's"Bishop-Ulama Conference, he was chosen to Chair its "Konsult Mindanaw." Konsult, or KM, is devoted to increasing stakeholder participation in various non-violent forms of advocacy. Still, Fr.Alejo is probably best known for his concurrent role as Spokesperson for former CoA (Commission of Audit) Auditor Heidi Mendoza. Ms.Mendoza plays a central role in the Major General Carlos F.Garcia Case (a case I devoted an entire entry to, the first in what will be a series on the former officer and his cronies.
2) Dr.Fernando Aldaba, PhD, an Assistant Professor at Ateneo de Manila University, a sister institution of the Ateneo de Davao. An ex-Chairperson of the school's Economics Department Dr.Aldaba also held the Presidency of the Philippine Economics Society (PES). Highly active in both Labor Relations and economic development he has joined intiatives through the ASEAN Nations.
The NDFP RWC-SER Chairperson is Juliet de Lima (as in Juliet de Lima Sison) with Committee Members:
1) Randall "Ka Randy" Echanis, a member of the CPP's Central Committe has spent a good part of the last 40 years in prison. Arrested in 1983 by none other than Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Hosanan who at that point led the Presidenti Security Group (PSG, a much feared Marcos Era special military force and Intelligence apparatus designed to stave off coup attempts against Marcos). Echanis was then placed in solitary confinement in Camp Aguinaldo,the AFP Heaquarters in Metro Manila's Quezon City before being shipped to Cebu. Released in 1992 Echanis returned to his commitments, true to form.
In 2008 Echanis was no longer working underground. Spending most of his time doing Labour Organising and performing outreach work, he was conducting a Forum for the National Federation of Sugar Workers involving the outlining of the then pending HB #3059, otherwise known as GARB, or Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill. As Echanis talked at Building Trainers Center [sic] in Negros Island's Barangay Calumangan, Bago City, Negros Occidental Province, a joint element of AFP and PNP raided the building and served Echanis with a warrant out of Leyte Island's Leyte Province accusing him of Multiple Murder for a mass grave discovered in Hilongos, Leyte. Not accused of direct, or even indirect participation, the warrant was predicated upon the aforementioned protocol of Commamd Responsibility. Since Echanis was sitting on the CPP Central Committe when the atrocity took place, and had retained that position ever since, under the principle of Command Responsibility he was just as guilty for the atrocity. Along with Echanis, his wife Erlinada Lacaba Echanis and their 2 year old daughter Amanda were incarcerated as well, making their toddler the youngest politiprison inmate in Modern Filipino History.
Released in 2009 as a concession to the CPP/NPA/NDFP in a bid to finally re-start the Peace Process, the NDFP gave him official status as a Peace Process Consultant,the primary rationale being to provide him with protection from yet another arrest and incarceration via the aforementioned JASIG.
2) Rafael Baylosis, is a former Secretary General of the CPP as well as currently serving on the party's Central Committee. No stranger to jail himself, Mr.Baylosis was nabbed in 1988 as he and five other extremely high ranking members of the movement were just pulling away from the curb in Manila's San Juan District. The arrest by a joint force from the IS-AFP and NISF (Naval Intelligence Security Force) came at the tail end of a 2 month period that had grabbed the bulk of the CPP and NPA leadership.
The 2 month period was itself part of 4 year period in which the party turned inward and began attacking its own. This in-fighting is known popularly as the DPA Purge. DPA, or Deep Penatration Agent, has never existed. The closest thing to it had been a Magsaysay Era deployment of a look-alike force that eventually decimated nearly everyone in one large and notable Huk cell. The DPA Purge then was merely the usual Leftist paranoia that has plagued every single Communist Movement. The closest thing to a DPA vis a vis the NPA were NPA members were induced to become informants for the Government. A "DPA" denotes actual Government personnel who then join the NPA as spies. This has b
As for RWC-SER Chairpersons, GPH's Edgar Dayanghirang is a Mindanowan Lumad ("Lumad" being a Cebuano equivalent to the Tagalog labeled"Tingguians"or"Igorotes." All three terms denote Animist Hilltribes). Mr.Dayanghirang is a mango farmer cum cable public access fixture in the Davao City area. His appointment to the GPH Peace Panel marks his first substantial role in government.
Mr Dayanghirang's. NDFP counterpart is. Ms.Julieta de Lima Sison, none other than the wife of CPP/NPA founder, Jose Maria "Joma" Sison. Living with her husband in Utrecht the Netherlands,she isn't that familiar with people outside the movement's hierarchy. Like Mr.Echanis and Mr.Baylosis the JASIG Guarantees have served as the impetus behind her appointments.
To be continued...
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