The informal two day meeting between delegations from both the GPH, or Government of the Philippines, and the NDFP, or National Democratic Front of the Philippines on June 14th and 15th produced nothing but smoke and mirrors, but, at least the two sides are talking publicly again. As noted in "GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Second Quarter of 2012, Part I," both sides exchanged wish lists. Topping the GPH list was a desire for a ceasefire, and the related "Landmine" issue (a totally bogus issue that serves as the cornerstone of the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines PSYOPS, or Psychological Operations/Psychological Warfare program). The NDFP response was to steer the Government back to a classified document it transmitted to President Aquino in January of 2011. Given the sleep inducing title, "Ten Point Proposal for a Concise Agreement for an Immediate and Just Peace," it will be hereafter referred to simply as, "Ten Point Proposal." Why the Government classified it is beyond me since that very same documrnt was given to to Arroyo Administration publicly in August of 2005.
The document's classification was nullified once constituent organizations within the NDFP began discussing its contents in depth. Without further ado, I present a verbatim copy of that document:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1) Unite the Filipino people through a broad alliance of patriotic and progressive forces and a clean and honest coalition government for genuine national independence and democracy against any foreign domination or control and against subsevience.
2) Empower the toiling masses of workers and peasants by respecting their democratic rights and providing for their significant representation in organs of the coalition government and for assistance to the organizations, programs and projects of the toiling masses.
3) Uphold economic sovereignity, carry out Filipino-owned national industrialization and land reform and oppose imperalist plunder and bureaucratic and military corruption in order to develop the national economy.
4) Cancel the foreign debt and reduce the appropriations for the military and other armed organizations of the GPH in order to provide adequate resources and savings for economic development, improvement of the means of livlihood, the alleviation of poverty, the realization of gender equality, promotion of children's rights and welfare and healthy environment.
5) Promote and support a patriotic, scientific and pro-people culture through the educational system, mass media and mass organizations, cherish the cultural heritage of the Filipino nation and all the ethno-linguistic communities in the nation.
6) Recognize the right to self-determination and autonomy of national minorities, ensure proportionate representation in the organs of the coalition government and institutions and provide for affirmative action to countervail longrunning discrimination and wrongs.
7) Investigate and try government officials who are liable for treason, corruption, and human rights violations.
8) Carry out a truly independent foreign policy for world peace and economic development, oppose imperialist acts of plunder and foreign aggression and intervention, and prevent the basing and stationing of foreign troops and weapons of mass destruction in the country.
9) Maintain normal trade and diplomatic relations with all countries and maintain the closest relations with other ASEAN countries, China, South and North Korea, Japan and Russia, emphasizing equitable exchange of goods, acquiring goods for industrialization and guaranteeing energy supply.
10) Inagurate a truce between the warring forces of the of the GHP and NDFP for the purpose of alliance and other constructive purposes as stated above.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Showing posts with label GPH-NDFP Peace Process. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GPH-NDFP Peace Process. Show all posts
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Second Quarter of 2012, Part I: Informal Meeting in Oslo
With the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Peace Process hitting a wall over the continued detention of NDFP "consultants," it has been a year since anything substantiative has taken place between the two Peace Panels. Truth be told, the Aquino Administration's gameplan was primed for failure since day one. For starters, as I have noted in past entries, President Aquino has officially laid out his bets on the dual Peace Processe tracks, this and the GPH-MILF Peace Process. Internal documents, such as the "Philippine Development Plan 2010-2016" show that Aquino has no expectations of progress on the GPH-NDFP track. Instead he has placed all eggs in the GPH-MILF basket. With the NDFP, these same documents articulate a program of delaying the NDFP track to take advantage of any lulls gained, and to weaken the NDFP/CPP/NPA. Even if the documents had never been leaked, given the fact that Aquino has set a 36 month window for an FPA, or Final Peace Agreement, his endgame was clearly telegraphed, the so called "GPH-NDFP Peace Process" never had an inkling of a chance. Not wanting to be misconstrued as some sort of CPP/NPA/NDFP cheerleader, let me emphasize that the NDFP also re-entered the Peace Process in bad faith. Still, if we are measuring responsibility in degrees, the NDFP comes out of this imbroglio smelling like (red) roses.
The two Peace Panels last met, or rather the ONLY time they have met since the Process began again, was in February of 2011 (see "GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the First Quarter of 2011"). There were smiles, hand shakes and guffaws enough to go around, but nothing was really acccomplished. Of course, after a half decade of inactivity all that really mattered was that the two sides were in fact talking. Both sides agreed that the first item to be tackled would be CASER, or the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms. June of 2011 was set for the next Formal Round, at which point each side's RCW, or Reciprocal Working Committee (RCW-SER, or RCW on Socio-Economic Reform) would present their product, the Panels would then compare them, revise them, and send them back to the mill for a September of 2011 delivery date. At that point, CASER would be signed and the next CA, or Comprehensive Agreement would go to the mat.
Not long after the February Formal Round however, the NDFP threw a hissy fit over the continued incarceration, and GPH inactivity over, NDFP Peace Panel Consultants. JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunuty Guarantees is a 1995 bilateral agreement that ostensibly protects declared NDFP Peace Panel Consultants. Per JASIG, (JASIG Supplemental signed on June 26th, 1996), Consultants are issued ID documents under pseudonyms in order to facilitate travel in relation to their duties vis a vis the Peace Process. The NDFP is obligated to furnish a list of pseudonyms and their ID numbers, while maintaining a masterlist upon which each pseudonym is linked to a Consultant's legal name. In addition, a photograph of each Consultant was to be included. The identifying documents and photos were stored in a bank safety deposit box in Utrecht, the Dutch city that serves as the CPP/NPA/NDFP capital in exile.
After that Formal Round in February of 2011, the JASIG issue came to a head as the Government called the NDFP's bluff, asking it to prove its claims about listed incarcerated personalities being JASIG protected. On a cold winter's day, representatives from both sides met at the bank in question, in the presence of a representative from the Norwegian Government, the Facilitating entity in the Peace Process, as well as the Archbishop of Utrecht. When the envelope was opened not only were there no photos, but the masterlist was contained on floppy discs, having been compiled in 1996.
When the group attempted to verify the contents of the discs they found nothing but undecipherable gibberish. The NDFP muttered something about corrupted files while the Government clicked its heels and did a jig.
Naturally the Government was elated and rubbed the NDFP's face in it. Whereas the Government might have taken the high road and offered a conciliatory gesture, say, releasing five of the then eighteen "Consultants," and labeled it a Good Will Gesture, it simply belittled the NDFP for trying to hoodwink the "Philippine people," as if any Government has ever represented anyone but the rich antd powerful. The NDFP then had no choice but to throw up its blood soaked hands and cry foul.
The next Formal Round, as noted, had been scheduled for June of 2011 but ended up scrapped over the JASIG brouhaha. On September 6th, 2011, as the window for the signing of CASER closed, the Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines, Knut Solem, brought each Peace Panel's Chairperson-Alexander "Alex" Padilla for the GPH and Luis Jalandoni for the NDFP-together at his Residence in Makati for an informal tet a tet in an attempt to break the then 7 month impasse. While the day went smoothly, it failed to do much of anything. Indeed, the Peace Process was once again dead in the water until NDFP Consultant Jaime Soledad was re-arrested, an incident that counter-intuitively broke the stalemate.
Originally, Soledad had been arrested in March of 2008 after a cousin of his wife Clarita Luego Soledad lured the couple to Cavite on Luzon. At the time Soledad was the NPA's Secretary (top commander) of the Southern Leyte Front, a provincial wide unit, and held a seat on the EXCOM, or Executive Committee for Eastern Visayas. Nabbed on murder charges relating to a mass grave in his town of residence, Inopacan, in Leyte. The grave, one of many, was from the orgiastic purges instituted the late 1980s by the NPA after an uber-rapid expansion in both the NPA, and its political wing, the Communist Party of the Philippines, or CPP. This expansion led to paranoia about so called DPAs, or Deep Penetration Agents. The warrant, under a case eventually docketed as CC#262163 (Regional Trial Court Branch #32 in Manila) was based solely upon a single affadavit from an alleged survivor of the particular purge which led to the Inopacan Killing Field. According to the witness, Soledad figured prominently in what the CPP/NPA tend to call a "People's Court."
As a concession on the JASIG stalemate, the GPH Peace Panel, via former Panelist, attorney Pablo Sanidad, effected Soledad's release in July of 2011. The joy Soledad must have experienced was no doubt diminished greatly when, on May 2nd, 2012, he was re-arrested on murder charges. Needless to say, this did nothing to help break the impasse.
Then, a month before, on April 3rd, 2012, an NDFP Consultant named Renante Gamara was nabbed by the PNP, or Philippine National Police CIDG-NCR (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group from PRO, or Police Regional Office National Capital Region). He and a friend, Santiago Balleta, were talking outside a mall parking garage when eight plain clothes opetatives quickly bundled the pair into an SUV and sped away. A co-founder of the labor movement Kilusang Mayo Uno (May 1st Movement), he was involved in above board labor activism. Yet, he was atrrested by virtue of a May of 2007 warrant taken out in the municipality of Mauban, in Quezon Province. That warrant for murder, was sworn out against a John Doe with thirty nine aliases. Only on March 23rd, 2012 was the warrant ammended to included Gamara's name.
Clearly, the GPH-NDFP Peace Process was tottering on the edge of the abyss. Norway, the Facilitating entity, once again held out its hands to pull both Peace Panels back from danger. Inviting both Chairpersons, Alex Padilla for the GPH, and Luis Jalandoni for the NDFP. Each Chairperson brought two Panelists:
GPH
1) Efren Moncupa
2) Jurgette Honculada
NDFP
1) Fidel Agcaoili
2) Julieta de Lima
In addition, each Panel brought two Consultants:
GPH
1) Paulyn "Meiling" Paredes Sicam, journalist and peace activist who in 1987 helped found the "Coalition for Peace" after the GPH-NDFP Peace Process hit its initial impasse under President Aquino's mother Corazon. Then, in the early 90s Ms.Sicam became the Commisioner on Human Rights, filling in when the previous Commissioner became Ombudsman. In February of 2005 then President Arroyo plucked her from relative obscurity and gave her aseat on the Peace Panel in the GPH (at that time it was "GRP," for "Government of the Republicof the Philippines)-NDFP Peace Process. When that track stalled out just a couple of months later, Ms.Sicam sank back into obscurity. Still, when the GPH Peace Panel was re-constituted, she was offered a consultancy and as we see, accepted it.
n2) Maria Carla Villarta, Director of the GPH Peace Panel Secetariat.
NDFP
1) Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, Political Consultant. Joma of course is the founder of the CPP, NPA, and NDFP and remains the movement's chief ideologue
2) Rachel F.Pastores, Legal Consultant, Director of the Public Interest Law Center and highly visible on the above board left in Metro Manila.
In addition, former Senator Wigberto "Bobby" Ebarle Tanada Sr. was there by invitation of the GPH Peace Panel. Tanada, usually referred to as "Ka Bobby" (Comrade Bobby), at least by his admiring colleagues on the Philippine Left. Tanada's father, Lorenzo "Tanny" Martinez Tanada, the Philippines' longest serving senator, is an iconic figure for both the above board Left, or in Philippine speak, "Legal Left, as well as the Nationalist Right. In 1978 Lorenzo became the General Campaign Manager for LABAN (the acronym means "Fight" but stands for "Lakas ng Bayan," or "Strength of the People").
That year was a pivotal year for the opposition to then dictator Ferdinand Marcos. In April the Congressional Election was beset by loud accusations of ballot rigging. Lorenzo was at the forefront of nearly 500 demonstrators who mobbed the Batasang Pambansa, as the Congressional Building in Metro Manila's Quezon City is known. That role earned Lorenzo an arrest by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines. 1978 was the beginning of the end for Marcos and his henchmen. In 1985 Lorenzo went on to co-found Bagong Alyansa Makabayan (The New Patriotic Alliance).
Wigberto did not fall very far from the tree. Serving first as a Senator, and then as a Congressman representing the Fourth District of Quezon Province. In 2001 Wigberto attempted to regain his Senatorial seat but lost and thereafter has devoted his time to his lawfirm and to his executive leadership position in a concrete manufacturing concern. In 2004, his son Lorenzo "Erin" Reyes Tanada III assume that same Congressional seat in 2004. In the Philippines, even the Left is dominated by wealthy political dynasties.
Wigiberto Tanada recommended to both Peace Panels that one way in which to possibly build momentum might be to finally implenent a bilateral document entitled "Joint Agreement in Support of Socio-Economic Projects of Private Development Organizations," though both sides would essentially be starting from scratch since any NGOs willing to participate in this scheme when it was signed would have probably jumped ship during the fourteen year interim. Moreover, although both sides did sign it, neither one ever ratified it. Ergo, seeing as how CASER has become bogged down in perphreal issues-like JASIG-why would anyone imagine that the two Peace Panels now attempt to wade into yet ANOTHER Joint Agreement? Tanada should stick to concrete and leave absolutely crucial political dynamics alone.
With the conclusion of the two day meeting came more vague pronouncements about the need to meet again. With JASIG going nowhere, that is not likely to happen.
The two Peace Panels last met, or rather the ONLY time they have met since the Process began again, was in February of 2011 (see "GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the First Quarter of 2011"). There were smiles, hand shakes and guffaws enough to go around, but nothing was really acccomplished. Of course, after a half decade of inactivity all that really mattered was that the two sides were in fact talking. Both sides agreed that the first item to be tackled would be CASER, or the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms. June of 2011 was set for the next Formal Round, at which point each side's RCW, or Reciprocal Working Committee (RCW-SER, or RCW on Socio-Economic Reform) would present their product, the Panels would then compare them, revise them, and send them back to the mill for a September of 2011 delivery date. At that point, CASER would be signed and the next CA, or Comprehensive Agreement would go to the mat.
Not long after the February Formal Round however, the NDFP threw a hissy fit over the continued incarceration, and GPH inactivity over, NDFP Peace Panel Consultants. JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunuty Guarantees is a 1995 bilateral agreement that ostensibly protects declared NDFP Peace Panel Consultants. Per JASIG, (JASIG Supplemental signed on June 26th, 1996), Consultants are issued ID documents under pseudonyms in order to facilitate travel in relation to their duties vis a vis the Peace Process. The NDFP is obligated to furnish a list of pseudonyms and their ID numbers, while maintaining a masterlist upon which each pseudonym is linked to a Consultant's legal name. In addition, a photograph of each Consultant was to be included. The identifying documents and photos were stored in a bank safety deposit box in Utrecht, the Dutch city that serves as the CPP/NPA/NDFP capital in exile.
After that Formal Round in February of 2011, the JASIG issue came to a head as the Government called the NDFP's bluff, asking it to prove its claims about listed incarcerated personalities being JASIG protected. On a cold winter's day, representatives from both sides met at the bank in question, in the presence of a representative from the Norwegian Government, the Facilitating entity in the Peace Process, as well as the Archbishop of Utrecht. When the envelope was opened not only were there no photos, but the masterlist was contained on floppy discs, having been compiled in 1996.
When the group attempted to verify the contents of the discs they found nothing but undecipherable gibberish. The NDFP muttered something about corrupted files while the Government clicked its heels and did a jig.
Naturally the Government was elated and rubbed the NDFP's face in it. Whereas the Government might have taken the high road and offered a conciliatory gesture, say, releasing five of the then eighteen "Consultants," and labeled it a Good Will Gesture, it simply belittled the NDFP for trying to hoodwink the "Philippine people," as if any Government has ever represented anyone but the rich antd powerful. The NDFP then had no choice but to throw up its blood soaked hands and cry foul.
The next Formal Round, as noted, had been scheduled for June of 2011 but ended up scrapped over the JASIG brouhaha. On September 6th, 2011, as the window for the signing of CASER closed, the Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines, Knut Solem, brought each Peace Panel's Chairperson-Alexander "Alex" Padilla for the GPH and Luis Jalandoni for the NDFP-together at his Residence in Makati for an informal tet a tet in an attempt to break the then 7 month impasse. While the day went smoothly, it failed to do much of anything. Indeed, the Peace Process was once again dead in the water until NDFP Consultant Jaime Soledad was re-arrested, an incident that counter-intuitively broke the stalemate.
Originally, Soledad had been arrested in March of 2008 after a cousin of his wife Clarita Luego Soledad lured the couple to Cavite on Luzon. At the time Soledad was the NPA's Secretary (top commander) of the Southern Leyte Front, a provincial wide unit, and held a seat on the EXCOM, or Executive Committee for Eastern Visayas. Nabbed on murder charges relating to a mass grave in his town of residence, Inopacan, in Leyte. The grave, one of many, was from the orgiastic purges instituted the late 1980s by the NPA after an uber-rapid expansion in both the NPA, and its political wing, the Communist Party of the Philippines, or CPP. This expansion led to paranoia about so called DPAs, or Deep Penetration Agents. The warrant, under a case eventually docketed as CC#262163 (Regional Trial Court Branch #32 in Manila) was based solely upon a single affadavit from an alleged survivor of the particular purge which led to the Inopacan Killing Field. According to the witness, Soledad figured prominently in what the CPP/NPA tend to call a "People's Court."
As a concession on the JASIG stalemate, the GPH Peace Panel, via former Panelist, attorney Pablo Sanidad, effected Soledad's release in July of 2011. The joy Soledad must have experienced was no doubt diminished greatly when, on May 2nd, 2012, he was re-arrested on murder charges. Needless to say, this did nothing to help break the impasse.
Then, a month before, on April 3rd, 2012, an NDFP Consultant named Renante Gamara was nabbed by the PNP, or Philippine National Police CIDG-NCR (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group from PRO, or Police Regional Office National Capital Region). He and a friend, Santiago Balleta, were talking outside a mall parking garage when eight plain clothes opetatives quickly bundled the pair into an SUV and sped away. A co-founder of the labor movement Kilusang Mayo Uno (May 1st Movement), he was involved in above board labor activism. Yet, he was atrrested by virtue of a May of 2007 warrant taken out in the municipality of Mauban, in Quezon Province. That warrant for murder, was sworn out against a John Doe with thirty nine aliases. Only on March 23rd, 2012 was the warrant ammended to included Gamara's name.
Clearly, the GPH-NDFP Peace Process was tottering on the edge of the abyss. Norway, the Facilitating entity, once again held out its hands to pull both Peace Panels back from danger. Inviting both Chairpersons, Alex Padilla for the GPH, and Luis Jalandoni for the NDFP. Each Chairperson brought two Panelists:
GPH
1) Efren Moncupa
2) Jurgette Honculada
NDFP
1) Fidel Agcaoili
2) Julieta de Lima
In addition, each Panel brought two Consultants:
GPH
1) Paulyn "Meiling" Paredes Sicam, journalist and peace activist who in 1987 helped found the "Coalition for Peace" after the GPH-NDFP Peace Process hit its initial impasse under President Aquino's mother Corazon. Then, in the early 90s Ms.Sicam became the Commisioner on Human Rights, filling in when the previous Commissioner became Ombudsman. In February of 2005 then President Arroyo plucked her from relative obscurity and gave her aseat on the Peace Panel in the GPH (at that time it was "GRP," for "Government of the Republicof the Philippines)-NDFP Peace Process. When that track stalled out just a couple of months later, Ms.Sicam sank back into obscurity. Still, when the GPH Peace Panel was re-constituted, she was offered a consultancy and as we see, accepted it.
n2) Maria Carla Villarta, Director of the GPH Peace Panel Secetariat.
NDFP
1) Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, Political Consultant. Joma of course is the founder of the CPP, NPA, and NDFP and remains the movement's chief ideologue
2) Rachel F.Pastores, Legal Consultant, Director of the Public Interest Law Center and highly visible on the above board left in Metro Manila.
In addition, former Senator Wigberto "Bobby" Ebarle Tanada Sr. was there by invitation of the GPH Peace Panel. Tanada, usually referred to as "Ka Bobby" (Comrade Bobby), at least by his admiring colleagues on the Philippine Left. Tanada's father, Lorenzo "Tanny" Martinez Tanada, the Philippines' longest serving senator, is an iconic figure for both the above board Left, or in Philippine speak, "Legal Left, as well as the Nationalist Right. In 1978 Lorenzo became the General Campaign Manager for LABAN (the acronym means "Fight" but stands for "Lakas ng Bayan," or "Strength of the People").
That year was a pivotal year for the opposition to then dictator Ferdinand Marcos. In April the Congressional Election was beset by loud accusations of ballot rigging. Lorenzo was at the forefront of nearly 500 demonstrators who mobbed the Batasang Pambansa, as the Congressional Building in Metro Manila's Quezon City is known. That role earned Lorenzo an arrest by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines. 1978 was the beginning of the end for Marcos and his henchmen. In 1985 Lorenzo went on to co-found Bagong Alyansa Makabayan (The New Patriotic Alliance).
Wigberto did not fall very far from the tree. Serving first as a Senator, and then as a Congressman representing the Fourth District of Quezon Province. In 2001 Wigberto attempted to regain his Senatorial seat but lost and thereafter has devoted his time to his lawfirm and to his executive leadership position in a concrete manufacturing concern. In 2004, his son Lorenzo "Erin" Reyes Tanada III assume that same Congressional seat in 2004. In the Philippines, even the Left is dominated by wealthy political dynasties.
Wigiberto Tanada recommended to both Peace Panels that one way in which to possibly build momentum might be to finally implenent a bilateral document entitled "Joint Agreement in Support of Socio-Economic Projects of Private Development Organizations," though both sides would essentially be starting from scratch since any NGOs willing to participate in this scheme when it was signed would have probably jumped ship during the fourteen year interim. Moreover, although both sides did sign it, neither one ever ratified it. Ergo, seeing as how CASER has become bogged down in perphreal issues-like JASIG-why would anyone imagine that the two Peace Panels now attempt to wade into yet ANOTHER Joint Agreement? Tanada should stick to concrete and leave absolutely crucial political dynamics alone.
With the conclusion of the two day meeting came more vague pronouncements about the need to meet again. With JASIG going nowhere, that is not likely to happen.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part II: A Slight Shuffle of the GPH Peace Panel
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.
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.
Monday, October 3, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Third Quarter of 2011: JASIG is Still Holding Up Talks
Peace Processes are a lot like the wars they aim to rectify. As any soldier can tell you, war is a whole lot of boredom and waiting around and just when you think waiting is all that you will do, a fantastic amount of action spins your head right around. The GPH, or the Government of the Philippines, and the NDFP, or the National Democratic Front of the Philippines are together engaged in a Peace Process that is no exception. After a beautiful beginning in February of 2011 when both sides met in Oslo, Norway, the Talks soon teetered on the verge of collapse over the GPH's stalling tactics. The particular issue utilised was a Joint Agreement signed back in 1995 with the Ramos Administration. Known as JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees, it was meant to protect all NDFP members directly involved in the GPH-NDFP Peace Process and exempt them from both arrest and state sanctioned violence.
JASIG has been manipulated by the Philippine Government for nearly seven years now. In 2004 the NDFP stepped away from the table over then-President Gloria Arroyo's sucessful lobbying of the United States to have the CPP/NPA, or Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New Peoples Army, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation. When Arroyo began to lobby the European Union as well the NDFP, the entity representing the CPP/NPA in the Peace Process, said "Enough!" and backed out of the Talks. Out of spite as much as from having manipulated the situation to net this very result the Arroyo Government suspended JASIG in September of 2005.
The Arroyo Government then re-implemented JASIG in August of 2009 after both sides agreed to come back to the table, an eventuality that never materialised until the changing of Administrations in 2010. The Government's uni-lateral suspension of JASIG was illegal since it was a bi-lateral Agreement ratified by both sides, ergo one side couldn't legally suspend such an Agreement without concurrence by the other. Aggravating the Government's action was the fact that from that suspension in 2005 all the way up until re-implementation in late 2009 the Government targeted known JASIG-covered personalities so that the suspension of JASIG was not meant merely to intimidate the CPP/NPA/NDFP but instead was designed as a way in which to further complicate an already veritable Gordian Knot of a Peace Process. In fact, the majority of the 26 incarcerated JASIG-covered personalities had been taken into custody during the suspended interim, from 2005 to 2009.
Then, when the NDFP finally did come back to the negotiating table in February of 2011 the Government Peace Panel's Chairman Alexander "Alex" Padilla assured his NDFP counterpart, Luis G.Jalandoni, that he would throw his weight into the issue to help gain the freedom of incarcerated JASIG-covered individuals. In fact, in the Oslo Joint Statement given at that First Round of the new cycle, Padilla actually said, "
On July 26th, 2011 the GPH Peace Panel had emissaries present, as did the Nowegian Government, when the long awaited JASIG Verification Process took place in a Dutch courtroom. As each NDFP member was offered JASIG protection his or her actual name, nom de guerre, and pseudonym especially for the Peace Process was entered onto an encrypted computer disc. Likewise with the photograph of each of those people. After the European Union placed the CPP/NPA onto its list of terrorist organisations the Dutch authorities raided the bank safe deposit box containing these encrypted discs. According to the NDFP, the investigators damaged a good many things. Apparently one such thing was the cipha disc which was to be used to de-code the encrypted photos and particulars of each JASIG-covered individual.
Chairman Padilla did not help things when he rubbed that failed Verification into the faces of the CPP/NPA/NDFP leadership. Said Padilla, "In the first place, they should not have used encrypted diskettes to store the pictures since JASIG called for individual photographs. Then their diskettes could not be opened. The failure of the verification process was entirely the fault of the NDF(P).". As if THAT hadn't been acidic enough Padilla re-hammered that dull nail, "The failure was theirs and theirs alone." Gee Alex, you have just proven exactly why attorneys should never be allowed to handle diplomatic issues. In fact, JASIG DOES call for "photos of each individual" but a diskette is merely a "storage format" and JASIG has absolutely nothing to say about THAT subject.
Still, trying to seem as if the Government is actually applying some elbow grease Padilla played another card ashortly before that July 26th Verification Process knowing full well that he would seek redress no matter HOW well the NDFP managed to link incarcerated individuals to the Peace Process. In June Padilla had arranged to have four more JASIG-covered individuals released, though he carefully choreographed the action. On July 22nd, 2011 Padilla had three of the individuals ordered released and arranged for a fourth to be let go on August 3rd as a way in which to make any complaint by Jalandoni et al on this issue look ridiculous. "How can people accuse the Government of not putting effort into solving the JASIG impasse IF three JASIG-protected individuals were released mere days before the scheduled Verification? Without even waiting for that the Government had three released. Even when the NDFP failed in the Verification Process the Government STILL had ANOTHER JASIG-protected person released!"
The four individuals:
1) Jaime "Jimmy" Soledad, 61 years old and the Secretary of the Southern Leyte Front of the NPA at the time of his arrest as well as the Secretary of the Leyte Committee of the CPP and therefore sat upon the Eastern Visayas Regional Committee of the CPP as did his wife Clarita Luego Soledad, now aged 54. On March 20th, 2008 the couple travelled to Luzon to rendevouz with a cousin of Clarita's, Vilma Madrazo of Cavite Province. Obstensibly Ms.Madrazo had asked them to travel there because she was interested in purchasing a small commercial property owned by the couple (in Clarita's name, never mind the fact that they are closet Capitalists). However, cousin Vilma had sold her services to the AFP and was trying to collect a decent bounty.
As the Soledads walked up to Vilma in front of the 7-11 convenience store in the municipality of Bacoor's Barangay Molino #3, on Daang Hari in front of the Camella Springfield Sub-division, they didn't notice several plainclothes Military Intelligence assets moving slowly towards them. As the Soledads turned to walk towards a waiting "sikad" (Triksiad, motorised taxi composed of an offroad motorcycle fitted into an aluminum shell with vinyl benches for passengers) the three were grabbed and cuffed behind their backs. Three unmarked vehicles raced to the scene of the arrest. Pushed inside an Isuzu Adventure, the middle vehicle, the three had hoods placed over their heads and ordered to remain quiet.
Two hours later the three were ushered into the Headquarters of the 2ID (Infantry Division) and the interrogations began. Vilma's 'arrest" had been for show so as to protect her and so she was released as soon as the Soldades were ushered into a separate interrogation room. Unfortunately for the Soledad's the situation was much more serious in their case. Both husband and wife had been arrested on the basis of warrants issued in 2000 for a mass grave in the municipality of Baybay, on Leyte. Much to their suprise the next day the AFP discovered that the 2000 Warrant had been voided in 2004 as the Government tried to jump start the Peace Process. While that development allowed Clarita to re-gain her freedom Jimmy was still in a lot of trouble with two other warrants. One of those two related to yet another mass grave on Leyte, in the town of Inopacan. Transferred to Leyte Provincial Jail, Jimmy spent the next 40 months not knowing how it would all turn out.
Ordered released on July 22nd, 2011, thanks to Chairman Padilla, it took until July 25th for the Leyte Provincial Government to verify that indeed all charges had been summarily dropped for "Lack of Evidence." Soledad had only been arrested by virtue of Command Responsibility regarding the aforementioned mass grave in Inopacan. A relic from the purges of the mid-1980s, which in the Visayas Region of the Central Philippines was given the rather innocuous label, "OPlan UOD" (Operational Plan UOD). The campaign sprang out of the same rank paranoia that first infested Mindanao (which I will discuss briefly in the case of the third detainee released). "Command Responsibility" is a military doctrine that holds all senior officers responsible for any illegal conduct on the part of their subordinates. Since Soledad was the highest ranking NPA personality in Leyte when those terrible killings took place he was the unlucky camper put upon the hotseat for it. Of course AS the highest ranking NPA commander at the time it was certainly his handiwork.
2) Jovencio "Ka Dawa/Ka Rudy" Balweg Sr., Secretary of Abra Operational Command of the NPA, as well as serving as the Command's Political Secretary, in addition to his holding a seat on the Executive Committee of the Illocos-Cordillera Regional Committee of the CPP, definitely a high value target. A Tingguian Tribesman (akin to the Lumad of Mindanao, Animist Hilltribes) from the municipality of Malibcong in Abra Province, he joined the NPA in 1979 along with his brother, Father Conrado "Ka Ambo" Balweg, a Roman Catholic priest of the SVD Order (Societas Verbi Divini aka Society of the Divine Word, a Dutch/German order sometimes referred to as Steyler). Father Conrado was forced into joining the NPA along with three fellow SVD priests after their protests against the Cellophil Resources Corporation earned them places on the AFP's Order of Battle (a list of military targets). Father Conrado quickly rose to the top after joining by taking part in 29 tactical operations that first year. Killing fourty-six soldiers and six military assets he earned himself a P200,000 bounty in 1980 terms, a fabulous amount.
Ex-communicated not long after earning that steep bounty Father Conrado married a fellow guerilla, Corazon "Ka Azon" Cortel and together the couple broke from the CPP/NPA/CPA (CPA being "Cordillera Peoples Army" the name given to the Tingguian and Igorot NPA elements operating in the Cordilleras) founding the CPLA, or the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army, in March of 1986. an organisation that two months ago, on July 6th, 2011, finally inked a Final Peace Agreement (albeit with only one of several CPLA factions). Unfortunately neither Father Conrado nor his wife lived to see it. Father Conrado was murdered by his brother Jovencio in their parent's home on New Years Eve 1999. Conrado knew that he stood a good chance of catching his brother without bodyguards at the family home in Malibcong's Barangay Buanao. He and one other guerilla made their way to the house and ended another chapter in the Philippine Insurgency.
Corazon died a natural death. En routue to the 5ID Headquarters at Camp Upi in the municipality of Gamu in Isabela Province in 2008 she suffered a massive heart attack and died before arriving at the camp hospital, at age 48. At the time of her death Corazon was the CPLA's Chief of Staff (Balweg Faction) and had been travelling to the 5ID to harrangue its comanding officer over the Government's failure to abide by Livlihood Guarantees that were part and parcel of the Mount Data Agreement, a GPH-CPLA Interim Agreement signed in the town of Mount Data on September 13th, 1987.
Jovencio was arrested on May 18th, 2009 at a PNP checkpoint near his home in Baguio City's Barangay Satellite Market Camp #7 in Mountain Province in the CAR, or Cordillera Autonomous Region. The checkpoint, jointly operated by Baguio City CPO (City Police Office) and PRO-CAR, or Police Regional Office of the Cordillera Autonomous Region, matched his face to a flyer hanging mere meters away. Balweg then produced identification in the name of his cousin, Ignacio Madella, a professor at Mountain State Agricultural College. Balweg had relocated to Baguio to lay low as he sought treatment for hypertension that had led to two strokes and a serious case of spinal stenosis.
Brought to PRO-CAR Headquarters Balweg quickly asmitted who he was and without much pressure agreed to arrange the peaceful surrender of his wife Carmen, known by the nom de guerre "Ka Dumay," and herself also a high ranking member of both the CPP and NPA. They both then had one of their sons, Jovencio Balweg Jr., also an NPA member, surrender as well.
3) Maria Luisa "Ka Mariam/Ka Byul" Pucray, Secretary of the NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee at the time of her arrest in February of 2010. She and NPA member Alan Solis, a Medical Secretary with the WMRC, or the Western Mindanao Regional Committee, the weakest of the five Regional Committees on Mindanao and all but inactive at this point. Ms.Pucray was found possesing the requisite hand grenade that almost all senior NPA figures carry when they run a chance of detection and/or arrest. The two were in a station wagon and attempting to transit an AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines checkpoint in the municipality of Katipunan in Zamboanga del Norte Province.
Ms.Pucray was the leader, or Secretary of Front 12 of the now defunct NMC, the Northern Mindanao Committee in the mid-1980s. In early 1985 four of her guerillas murdered Lorenzo Coloso and his wife Corazon Pacana Coloso in front of their home in the municipality of El Salvador's Barangay Kalabaybay in Misamis Oriental Province. The four guerillas had been sent to divest the couple of a reputed cache of weapons. Finding only a damaged BB gun the guerillas became enraged and after dragging the hogtied couple outside blew the backs of their skulls off.
Mrs.Coloso was the sister of then-Misamis Oriental Provincial Govenor Fernando Pacana as well as Lieutenant Colonel Virgilio Pacana of the AFP. Both brothers called in favours from the RUC, or Regional Unified Command, a now defunct clearing house for all AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police) detachments in a given region. Copying a sucesful strategem of former President Ramon Magsaysay from his days as the Secretary of National Defense the RUC recruited low ranking NPA guerillas and cadres to serve as DPAs, or Deep Penetration Agents. At the time of Magsaysay's plan in the early 1950s, the Huk Rebellion was in danger of overtaking Manila. At the behest of his mentor, an American Sr.Officer, Magsaysay created a DPA Programme. DPAs, or Deep Penetration Agents go undercover for long periods of time so as to rise to positions of trust and power and thereafter provide intelligence of the highest value.
In just NMRC and NEMRC (the latter being the Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee) the NPA had well over 4,000 guerillas and controlled 75% of the barangays within both AORs, or Areas of Responsibility (as in "Areas of Responsibility"). In the Summerer of 1985 the RUC called in its markers and began cashing in its chips. From December of 1985 to February 12th, 1986 the RUC killed more than 400 NPA Regulars and 90 of them were killed in just a single tactical operation, the February 12th raid on the NMRC's main camp. In addition, RUC captured 156 Regulars in that same time period and that doesn't touch upon Surrenderees, guerillas who voluntarily surrendered to the Government for whatever reason. The NPA suffered a 29% reduction in manpower between those two Committees in just a 75 day period. Moreover, in June of 1985 Ms.Pucray had begun purging her unit, Front 12, torturing and executing suspected DPAs.
The end result, especially after that fabulous capture of the NMRC's main camp in which 90 guerillas were killed was an intence paranoia and it was none other than Ms.Pucray who came up with what she eventually labelled, "Kampanyang Ahos," the Garlic Campaign, building upon the purges she had instituted within Front 12 back in June. The label comes from a naïve mistake. DPAs were referred to as "Zombies." The NPA associated the old "garlic as a prophylactic against vampirism" tale with zombies. In other words, in the NPA's mind, garlic would keep the zombies from harming the NPA. The result was a series of purges, with at least five mass graves along Mindanao's northern coast from Cagayan del Oro City (Barangay Taglimao's Sitio Nabitay) in Misamis Oriental Province on over to the municipality of Las Nieves in Agusan del Norte Province. It was Pucray's Front 12 that led that disgusting spate of bloodlust. When she was charged in 2000, along with two other high ranking NPA in those two AORs:
1) Sammy Buntag
2) Laureto Cagals
and the CPP/NPA hierarchy including the movement's founder and chief ideologue Jose Maria "JOMA" Sison, Ms.Pucray dared to blame the mass graves on the AFP, until scores of eye witnesses began surfacing. Though she remained free until her 2010 arrest, Pucray did finally accept responsibility though not as an individual. Offering families of victims a P10,000 indemnification ($200) and a letter calling the victims, collectively, "Heroes of the Revolution."
4) Gliceria "Ka Choy" Pernia, released August 3rd, 2011 from Albay Provincial Jail on Luzon. His incarceration resulted in a botched rescue attempt by fellow NPA guerillas on September 16th, 2009 as the BJMP, or Bureau of Jail Management and Penology was transporting him back to the jail from a court appearance. As the van drove through the municipality of Guinobatan's Barangay Binogsacan in Albay Province guerillas assaulted the van in a daylight ambush in the middle of that town. He was being held for Murder, Multiple Murder, and Hiway Robbery.
Of course the release of these four detainees has done nothing to alleviate the current impasse. On September 6th, 2011, Norwegian Ambassador Tor Lundh, who does double duty as Facilitator of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, invited GPH Chairman Alex Padilla and NDFP Chairman Luis G.Jalandoni for a private lunch at his official residence in Makati. Contrary to what the media has been claiming, Jalandoni did NOT agree to attend a Formal Round in late October or early November. In fact, on September 8th, NDFP Panelist Fidel Agcaoili dispelled such notions by firmly stating that the next Round can ONLY take place three weeks AFTER all detained JASIG-protected personalities are released. Don't hold your breath.
JASIG has been manipulated by the Philippine Government for nearly seven years now. In 2004 the NDFP stepped away from the table over then-President Gloria Arroyo's sucessful lobbying of the United States to have the CPP/NPA, or Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New Peoples Army, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation. When Arroyo began to lobby the European Union as well the NDFP, the entity representing the CPP/NPA in the Peace Process, said "Enough!" and backed out of the Talks. Out of spite as much as from having manipulated the situation to net this very result the Arroyo Government suspended JASIG in September of 2005.
The Arroyo Government then re-implemented JASIG in August of 2009 after both sides agreed to come back to the table, an eventuality that never materialised until the changing of Administrations in 2010. The Government's uni-lateral suspension of JASIG was illegal since it was a bi-lateral Agreement ratified by both sides, ergo one side couldn't legally suspend such an Agreement without concurrence by the other. Aggravating the Government's action was the fact that from that suspension in 2005 all the way up until re-implementation in late 2009 the Government targeted known JASIG-covered personalities so that the suspension of JASIG was not meant merely to intimidate the CPP/NPA/NDFP but instead was designed as a way in which to further complicate an already veritable Gordian Knot of a Peace Process. In fact, the majority of the 26 incarcerated JASIG-covered personalities had been taken into custody during the suspended interim, from 2005 to 2009.
Then, when the NDFP finally did come back to the negotiating table in February of 2011 the Government Peace Panel's Chairman Alexander "Alex" Padilla assured his NDFP counterpart, Luis G.Jalandoni, that he would throw his weight into the issue to help gain the freedom of incarcerated JASIG-covered individuals. In fact, in the Oslo Joint Statement given at that First Round of the new cycle, Padilla actually said, "
On July 26th, 2011 the GPH Peace Panel had emissaries present, as did the Nowegian Government, when the long awaited JASIG Verification Process took place in a Dutch courtroom. As each NDFP member was offered JASIG protection his or her actual name, nom de guerre, and pseudonym especially for the Peace Process was entered onto an encrypted computer disc. Likewise with the photograph of each of those people. After the European Union placed the CPP/NPA onto its list of terrorist organisations the Dutch authorities raided the bank safe deposit box containing these encrypted discs. According to the NDFP, the investigators damaged a good many things. Apparently one such thing was the cipha disc which was to be used to de-code the encrypted photos and particulars of each JASIG-covered individual.
Chairman Padilla did not help things when he rubbed that failed Verification into the faces of the CPP/NPA/NDFP leadership. Said Padilla, "In the first place, they should not have used encrypted diskettes to store the pictures since JASIG called for individual photographs. Then their diskettes could not be opened. The failure of the verification process was entirely the fault of the NDF(P).". As if THAT hadn't been acidic enough Padilla re-hammered that dull nail, "The failure was theirs and theirs alone." Gee Alex, you have just proven exactly why attorneys should never be allowed to handle diplomatic issues. In fact, JASIG DOES call for "photos of each individual" but a diskette is merely a "storage format" and JASIG has absolutely nothing to say about THAT subject.
Still, trying to seem as if the Government is actually applying some elbow grease Padilla played another card ashortly before that July 26th Verification Process knowing full well that he would seek redress no matter HOW well the NDFP managed to link incarcerated individuals to the Peace Process. In June Padilla had arranged to have four more JASIG-covered individuals released, though he carefully choreographed the action. On July 22nd, 2011 Padilla had three of the individuals ordered released and arranged for a fourth to be let go on August 3rd as a way in which to make any complaint by Jalandoni et al on this issue look ridiculous. "How can people accuse the Government of not putting effort into solving the JASIG impasse IF three JASIG-protected individuals were released mere days before the scheduled Verification? Without even waiting for that the Government had three released. Even when the NDFP failed in the Verification Process the Government STILL had ANOTHER JASIG-protected person released!"
The four individuals:
1) Jaime "Jimmy" Soledad, 61 years old and the Secretary of the Southern Leyte Front of the NPA at the time of his arrest as well as the Secretary of the Leyte Committee of the CPP and therefore sat upon the Eastern Visayas Regional Committee of the CPP as did his wife Clarita Luego Soledad, now aged 54. On March 20th, 2008 the couple travelled to Luzon to rendevouz with a cousin of Clarita's, Vilma Madrazo of Cavite Province. Obstensibly Ms.Madrazo had asked them to travel there because she was interested in purchasing a small commercial property owned by the couple (in Clarita's name, never mind the fact that they are closet Capitalists). However, cousin Vilma had sold her services to the AFP and was trying to collect a decent bounty.
As the Soledads walked up to Vilma in front of the 7-11 convenience store in the municipality of Bacoor's Barangay Molino #3, on Daang Hari in front of the Camella Springfield Sub-division, they didn't notice several plainclothes Military Intelligence assets moving slowly towards them. As the Soledads turned to walk towards a waiting "sikad" (Triksiad, motorised taxi composed of an offroad motorcycle fitted into an aluminum shell with vinyl benches for passengers) the three were grabbed and cuffed behind their backs. Three unmarked vehicles raced to the scene of the arrest. Pushed inside an Isuzu Adventure, the middle vehicle, the three had hoods placed over their heads and ordered to remain quiet.
Two hours later the three were ushered into the Headquarters of the 2ID (Infantry Division) and the interrogations began. Vilma's 'arrest" had been for show so as to protect her and so she was released as soon as the Soldades were ushered into a separate interrogation room. Unfortunately for the Soledad's the situation was much more serious in their case. Both husband and wife had been arrested on the basis of warrants issued in 2000 for a mass grave in the municipality of Baybay, on Leyte. Much to their suprise the next day the AFP discovered that the 2000 Warrant had been voided in 2004 as the Government tried to jump start the Peace Process. While that development allowed Clarita to re-gain her freedom Jimmy was still in a lot of trouble with two other warrants. One of those two related to yet another mass grave on Leyte, in the town of Inopacan. Transferred to Leyte Provincial Jail, Jimmy spent the next 40 months not knowing how it would all turn out.
Ordered released on July 22nd, 2011, thanks to Chairman Padilla, it took until July 25th for the Leyte Provincial Government to verify that indeed all charges had been summarily dropped for "Lack of Evidence." Soledad had only been arrested by virtue of Command Responsibility regarding the aforementioned mass grave in Inopacan. A relic from the purges of the mid-1980s, which in the Visayas Region of the Central Philippines was given the rather innocuous label, "OPlan UOD" (Operational Plan UOD). The campaign sprang out of the same rank paranoia that first infested Mindanao (which I will discuss briefly in the case of the third detainee released). "Command Responsibility" is a military doctrine that holds all senior officers responsible for any illegal conduct on the part of their subordinates. Since Soledad was the highest ranking NPA personality in Leyte when those terrible killings took place he was the unlucky camper put upon the hotseat for it. Of course AS the highest ranking NPA commander at the time it was certainly his handiwork.
2) Jovencio "Ka Dawa/Ka Rudy" Balweg Sr., Secretary of Abra Operational Command of the NPA, as well as serving as the Command's Political Secretary, in addition to his holding a seat on the Executive Committee of the Illocos-Cordillera Regional Committee of the CPP, definitely a high value target. A Tingguian Tribesman (akin to the Lumad of Mindanao, Animist Hilltribes) from the municipality of Malibcong in Abra Province, he joined the NPA in 1979 along with his brother, Father Conrado "Ka Ambo" Balweg, a Roman Catholic priest of the SVD Order (Societas Verbi Divini aka Society of the Divine Word, a Dutch/German order sometimes referred to as Steyler). Father Conrado was forced into joining the NPA along with three fellow SVD priests after their protests against the Cellophil Resources Corporation earned them places on the AFP's Order of Battle (a list of military targets). Father Conrado quickly rose to the top after joining by taking part in 29 tactical operations that first year. Killing fourty-six soldiers and six military assets he earned himself a P200,000 bounty in 1980 terms, a fabulous amount.
Ex-communicated not long after earning that steep bounty Father Conrado married a fellow guerilla, Corazon "Ka Azon" Cortel and together the couple broke from the CPP/NPA/CPA (CPA being "Cordillera Peoples Army" the name given to the Tingguian and Igorot NPA elements operating in the Cordilleras) founding the CPLA, or the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army, in March of 1986. an organisation that two months ago, on July 6th, 2011, finally inked a Final Peace Agreement (albeit with only one of several CPLA factions). Unfortunately neither Father Conrado nor his wife lived to see it. Father Conrado was murdered by his brother Jovencio in their parent's home on New Years Eve 1999. Conrado knew that he stood a good chance of catching his brother without bodyguards at the family home in Malibcong's Barangay Buanao. He and one other guerilla made their way to the house and ended another chapter in the Philippine Insurgency.
Corazon died a natural death. En routue to the 5ID Headquarters at Camp Upi in the municipality of Gamu in Isabela Province in 2008 she suffered a massive heart attack and died before arriving at the camp hospital, at age 48. At the time of her death Corazon was the CPLA's Chief of Staff (Balweg Faction) and had been travelling to the 5ID to harrangue its comanding officer over the Government's failure to abide by Livlihood Guarantees that were part and parcel of the Mount Data Agreement, a GPH-CPLA Interim Agreement signed in the town of Mount Data on September 13th, 1987.
Jovencio was arrested on May 18th, 2009 at a PNP checkpoint near his home in Baguio City's Barangay Satellite Market Camp #7 in Mountain Province in the CAR, or Cordillera Autonomous Region. The checkpoint, jointly operated by Baguio City CPO (City Police Office) and PRO-CAR, or Police Regional Office of the Cordillera Autonomous Region, matched his face to a flyer hanging mere meters away. Balweg then produced identification in the name of his cousin, Ignacio Madella, a professor at Mountain State Agricultural College. Balweg had relocated to Baguio to lay low as he sought treatment for hypertension that had led to two strokes and a serious case of spinal stenosis.
Brought to PRO-CAR Headquarters Balweg quickly asmitted who he was and without much pressure agreed to arrange the peaceful surrender of his wife Carmen, known by the nom de guerre "Ka Dumay," and herself also a high ranking member of both the CPP and NPA. They both then had one of their sons, Jovencio Balweg Jr., also an NPA member, surrender as well.
3) Maria Luisa "Ka Mariam/Ka Byul" Pucray, Secretary of the NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee at the time of her arrest in February of 2010. She and NPA member Alan Solis, a Medical Secretary with the WMRC, or the Western Mindanao Regional Committee, the weakest of the five Regional Committees on Mindanao and all but inactive at this point. Ms.Pucray was found possesing the requisite hand grenade that almost all senior NPA figures carry when they run a chance of detection and/or arrest. The two were in a station wagon and attempting to transit an AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines checkpoint in the municipality of Katipunan in Zamboanga del Norte Province.
Ms.Pucray was the leader, or Secretary of Front 12 of the now defunct NMC, the Northern Mindanao Committee in the mid-1980s. In early 1985 four of her guerillas murdered Lorenzo Coloso and his wife Corazon Pacana Coloso in front of their home in the municipality of El Salvador's Barangay Kalabaybay in Misamis Oriental Province. The four guerillas had been sent to divest the couple of a reputed cache of weapons. Finding only a damaged BB gun the guerillas became enraged and after dragging the hogtied couple outside blew the backs of their skulls off.
Mrs.Coloso was the sister of then-Misamis Oriental Provincial Govenor Fernando Pacana as well as Lieutenant Colonel Virgilio Pacana of the AFP. Both brothers called in favours from the RUC, or Regional Unified Command, a now defunct clearing house for all AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police) detachments in a given region. Copying a sucesful strategem of former President Ramon Magsaysay from his days as the Secretary of National Defense the RUC recruited low ranking NPA guerillas and cadres to serve as DPAs, or Deep Penetration Agents. At the time of Magsaysay's plan in the early 1950s, the Huk Rebellion was in danger of overtaking Manila. At the behest of his mentor, an American Sr.Officer, Magsaysay created a DPA Programme. DPAs, or Deep Penetration Agents go undercover for long periods of time so as to rise to positions of trust and power and thereafter provide intelligence of the highest value.
In just NMRC and NEMRC (the latter being the Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee) the NPA had well over 4,000 guerillas and controlled 75% of the barangays within both AORs, or Areas of Responsibility (as in "Areas of Responsibility"). In the Summerer of 1985 the RUC called in its markers and began cashing in its chips. From December of 1985 to February 12th, 1986 the RUC killed more than 400 NPA Regulars and 90 of them were killed in just a single tactical operation, the February 12th raid on the NMRC's main camp. In addition, RUC captured 156 Regulars in that same time period and that doesn't touch upon Surrenderees, guerillas who voluntarily surrendered to the Government for whatever reason. The NPA suffered a 29% reduction in manpower between those two Committees in just a 75 day period. Moreover, in June of 1985 Ms.Pucray had begun purging her unit, Front 12, torturing and executing suspected DPAs.
The end result, especially after that fabulous capture of the NMRC's main camp in which 90 guerillas were killed was an intence paranoia and it was none other than Ms.Pucray who came up with what she eventually labelled, "Kampanyang Ahos," the Garlic Campaign, building upon the purges she had instituted within Front 12 back in June. The label comes from a naïve mistake. DPAs were referred to as "Zombies." The NPA associated the old "garlic as a prophylactic against vampirism" tale with zombies. In other words, in the NPA's mind, garlic would keep the zombies from harming the NPA. The result was a series of purges, with at least five mass graves along Mindanao's northern coast from Cagayan del Oro City (Barangay Taglimao's Sitio Nabitay) in Misamis Oriental Province on over to the municipality of Las Nieves in Agusan del Norte Province. It was Pucray's Front 12 that led that disgusting spate of bloodlust. When she was charged in 2000, along with two other high ranking NPA in those two AORs:
1) Sammy Buntag
2) Laureto Cagals
and the CPP/NPA hierarchy including the movement's founder and chief ideologue Jose Maria "JOMA" Sison, Ms.Pucray dared to blame the mass graves on the AFP, until scores of eye witnesses began surfacing. Though she remained free until her 2010 arrest, Pucray did finally accept responsibility though not as an individual. Offering families of victims a P10,000 indemnification ($200) and a letter calling the victims, collectively, "Heroes of the Revolution."
4) Gliceria "Ka Choy" Pernia, released August 3rd, 2011 from Albay Provincial Jail on Luzon. His incarceration resulted in a botched rescue attempt by fellow NPA guerillas on September 16th, 2009 as the BJMP, or Bureau of Jail Management and Penology was transporting him back to the jail from a court appearance. As the van drove through the municipality of Guinobatan's Barangay Binogsacan in Albay Province guerillas assaulted the van in a daylight ambush in the middle of that town. He was being held for Murder, Multiple Murder, and Hiway Robbery.
Of course the release of these four detainees has done nothing to alleviate the current impasse. On September 6th, 2011, Norwegian Ambassador Tor Lundh, who does double duty as Facilitator of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, invited GPH Chairman Alex Padilla and NDFP Chairman Luis G.Jalandoni for a private lunch at his official residence in Makati. Contrary to what the media has been claiming, Jalandoni did NOT agree to attend a Formal Round in late October or early November. In fact, on September 8th, NDFP Panelist Fidel Agcaoili dispelled such notions by firmly stating that the next Round can ONLY take place three weeks AFTER all detained JASIG-protected personalities are released. Don't hold your breath.
Friday, July 1, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process, First Quarter of 2011, Part III: The Release of Angie Ipong
Since the re-initiation of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process (Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines) the most pressing issue, at least for the NDFP, has been JASIG. JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees is designed to offer all NDFP members connected with the Peace Process legal protection from arrest and prosecution as well as freedom of movement. While initially, just after the Peace Process re-re-opened [sic], JASIG seemed to be of little concern, it has since turned into the proverbial white elephant.
President Aquino ensured that NDFP Peace Panel Chairman Luis G.Jalandoni and his wife, NDFP Peace Panelist Connie Ledesma each had their names removed from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) Persona Non-Grata List so that both could re-enter the Philippines (and then leave again when desired). Like virtually all of the chief ideologues of the CPP/NPA, of which the NDFP is merely a front, the couple remains ensconced in voluntary exile in the city of New Utrecht,in the Netherlands. Unlike the rest though, Jalandoni and Ledesma took Dutch citizenship years ago. In this way the couple has a much greater advantage than the rest of the CPP/NPA leadership because unlike their comrades (pun intended) they are somewhat free to travel, as long as it isn't to the Philippines. I say "somewhat" because in 2004, after lobbying by then-President Arroyo, the United States placed the CPP/NPA onto its list of terrorist organisations. Meanwhile, Jalandoni's elderly mother was near death and so the Government offered the ability to travel to and from the Philippines as a Good Will Gesture, though it was far short of the NDFP's "suggestion" that Aquino receive Jalandoni at the Presidential Palace.
President Aquino then enabled the BID modification for the couple and as he did so he took great pains to portray himself as taking the neccessary steps to re-implement JASIG. After the US declaration of the CPP/NPA as a terrorist entity the NPA had withdrawn from the Peace Process. The following year the Government unilaterally suspended JASIG, something it wasn't legally able to do since it is a bi-lateral agreement (though this being the Philippine Government that facts borders on irelevant). While the BID gesture was great in the immediate sense, the fact of the matter is that it seriously jeapordised all JASIG-protected persons.Though the re-implementation of JASIG merely amounted to the Government unilaterally deciding to recognise it.
Then, just hours before Round I of the Formal Talks began in Oslo on February 15th, 2011, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) arrested yet another JASIG-protected person, CPP General Secretary Alan Jazmines. The AFP, when informed of Jazmines' status as a Consultant to the NDFP's Peace Panel offered this little gem, "To hell with JASIG." That about nails the GPH policy on the agreement to a tee. To smoothe things over, so to speak, GPH Peace Panel Chairperson Alexander "Alex" Padilla had Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad intercede in the case of one of the then eighteen JASIG-protected persons sitting in detention, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong.
Angie Ipong,a native of Bicol, obtained a BA in History from Ateneo de Naga University and then joined her husband Boy in performing lay missionary work for various Catholic organisations. Feeling unfufilled at her job reading History at Assumption College in Quezon Province's Lucena City, she and her husband Boy decided to devote themselves fulltime to their Catholic Faith. By the late-1970s the couple decided to move south, to Cebu City. While in Cebu the couple drifted into Liberation Theology, a variant of Catholicism that advocates direct Church involvement in the political process (Whatever happened to "Render unto Caesar"?), and while not condoning violence outright, offering plausability and rationalisation for it so as to allow a great many adherants to cross the fine line from multi-sectoral front partisanship right into violent activity and outright rebellion. Among the people the couple met while in Cebu were a group of radicalised priests from a Maryknoll Residence in Tagum (now Tagum City) in Mindanao's Davao del Norte Province. At the priests' invitation the Ipongs relocated to Tagum and took positions at the Maryknoll "Christian Formation Center".
It was in Tagum that the couple drifted closer to crossing that aforementioned fine line. Not long after, they left Tagum to work with "Rural Missionaries of the Philippines," or (RMP). Then, as now, RMP is a thinly verneered NPA multi-sectoral front organisation.Unlike most other front organisations that exist to serve a multitude of purposes benefiting the CPP/NPA, RPM exists chiefly as a format for political indoctrination directly into the CPP,and as a conduit into the NPA itself.
On November 20th, 1983 Boy Ipong joined scores of Church functionaries and lay people for a ferry ride to Cebu City to attend a Church gathering. The ferry, the Dona Cassandra, left Nasipit in Agusan del Norte Province overloaded and just as Typhoon Orchid began touching down in the Visayas Region. Early on the 21st, as the ship traversed the Surigao Strait in the Leyte Sea, the ferry capsised with at least 167 deaths out of a passenger and crew manifest of 387 people. Among the 167 was Boy Ipong.
Though Ms.Ipong eventually took the plunge and became a full-fledged member of the NPA, she tended to concentrate on the ideological end of the equation. Known to fellow NPA members as "Ka Nilda," Ms.Ipong focused her efforts on bringing more and more people into the fold. In fact, on March 8th, 2005 she had been conducting a forum on the CARHRIHL,or Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law facet of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process to a group of newly indoctrinared people gathered at a private home in Anastacia Missionary Village, in Barangay Lumbayao in the municipality of Aloran in Misamis Occidental Province. At 145PM she took a break and just as she began a light lunch a group of ten men, in military fatigues and skimasks (known locally as "bonnets") and carrying M16s entered the house and immediately surrounded the shocked women. Tying her hands behind her back and blindfolding her the men,a combination of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) soldiers and officers from the PNP's (Philippines National Police) CIDG-10 (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group-Region-10) then led her out of the house and into incognito.
Immediately driven by van to 1ID (1st Infantry Division) Headquarters in the municipality of Labangan's Barangay Pulacan in Zamboanga del Sur Province.Arrested by virtue of warrants issued in Pagadian City and the town of Molave, both in that same province, as well as additional warrants in Misami Occidental Province's Oroquieta City, she was slapped with the usual generic charges applied to any and all mid to upper echelon NPA arrestees: Rebellion, Multiple Frustrated Murder, Arson, and so on. Barely subjected to interrogation while at Division Headquarters she was deemed high value enough to warrant a prompt transfer on March 12th to SOUTHCOM, the then unitary command responsible for all of Mindanao and its island possessions, at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte Province. It was there that Ms.Ipong's interrogation began.
As far as interrogations go it was a by the book (if THE book was at least 50 years old) almost anti-climatic affair. The first inquisitor was a junior officer who left her blindfoled (to re-inforce her vulnerability) and changed his rythym several times to keep her tense and off balance, berating her and often screaming threats. Ms.Ipong also claims to have been punched in the side during this and subsequent rounds of questioning.
Round II offered the first inquisitor's foil, the "good cop" of the well known "good cop:bad cop" routine. Removing Ms.Ipong's blindfold the senior officer acted enraged to find that she had been sleeping on a concrete floor and brusquely ordered inquisitor number one to immediately provide the detainee with a bed and took great pains to "admonish" the junior officer in the detainee's presence, warning him that he would be brought up on serious disciplinary charges if he ever came close to mis-treating any prisoner again. Of course this was entirely for her benefit since both inquisitors were running a standard interrogation technique. It is a very simple endeavour. Working with very basic human psychology, they soften up a subject by isolating them, removing any emotional footholds he or she may have retained. This is accomplished by interrupting the sleep pattern, serving a sub-standard diet, screaming at and insulting the subject and so on. Then, a new personality is introduced into the dynamic,a more senior officer so as to convey stability and reliability and instill trust. This senior officer "rights" most of the "wrongs" dished out by the first inquisitor. This naturally a initiates desire within the subject to please inquisitor number two, to show gratitude but mostly to avoid a repeat of the first round of interrogation.The inquisitors are alternated over a series of days,as was the case with Angie Ipong.
Round III saw the return of the first inquisitor, "Mr.Bad Cop." The junior office angrily ordered subordinates to remove the bed given to her by the second inquisitor, "Mr.Good Cop." Again her interrogator punched her in the side. Then the officer stepped it up a notch by ordering subordinate personnel to "strip" the then 60 year old woman naked. With her hands tied behind her back, and a blindfold over her eyes, Ms.Ipong maintains that the junior officer and his subordinates began touching her, squeezing her breasts and touching her genitals. Terrified Ms.Ipong pled with her tormentors, asking them to remember that she was 60 years old and that she was no different from their mothers or sisters. This caused the soldiers to laugh derisively, turning up the air conditioning to its maximum setting to offer even further discomfort. It was at this point that Ms.Ipong lost consciousness.
Coming to her senses the next morning, it took a few moments to realise she was naked, having been left exactly where she fell though sometime afterwards her blindfold had been removed. Hands still tied behind her back, but only loosely, as if to allow the prisoner to release herself when alone. Having gotten her hands free Ms.Ipong quickly dressed herself only to find just as she finished, that the callous junior officer had returned. That morning, March 13th, Round V of her interrogation began. Though she had been lying on the concrete floor all night a bed had been re-installed. Making a point to have it removed the officer had the blindfold re-applied and the hands re-bound, after having a subordinate forcefully pinion the detainee's hands behind her back. After punching her in her side once again the officer began his questioning.
By mid-morning her inquisitor exited and almost immediately the emphatic, courteous senior officer entered the room in tag team fashion. Round V began with the sentence again markedly demanding that her bed be re-installed he called the junior officer into the cell and threatened to have him court martialed for his "abuse" of Ms.Ipong. Dismissing him brusquely he downshifted and spoke tenderly to the frightened woman. He promised to have the junior officer docketed for his unseemly behavior but noted that he couldn't be on site 24 hours a day to protect her. He then played his hand; asking Ms.Ipong to "help" him, he offered to personally write down her answers, thus ensuring that they would be accurately recorded without omission OR embellishment and offered that this was the only way to neutralise the immediate threat posed by that abusive junior officer. If Ms.Ipong agreed to help him together they could ensure that no other prisoners would suffer from that same heartless treatment and abuse. Were the prisoner to question the correlation between her providing information and the disciplining of the unruly junior officer, the calm and reasonable senior officer would simply reply that were he to docket the abusive subordinate for his mistreatment of Ms.Ipong, his own superiors would assume that Ms.Ipong was lying or exaggerating about her mistreatment, something the senior officer wasn't able to personally witness. The powers that be would assume that the detainee was being manipulative but moreover, dishonest. However, IF he could show that the detainee had voluntarily provided even a scant modicum of information it would leave senior staff unable to make that point. Never having been arested or imprisoned Ms.Ipong had no way of knowing that this "kindly" senior officer was just as callous and manipulative as his junior counterpart.
With the completion of Round V Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was served with formal charges, delivered to SOUTHCOM Headquarters by a State Attorney on the afternoon of March 13th. Much to her suprise the 60 year old woman was notified that she was being saddled with Rebellion, Arson, Double Frustrated Murder, and Triple Frustrated Murder charges in three different venues. The three jurisdictions were:
1) Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur Province
2) Molave, Zamboanga del Sur Province
3) Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental Province
The next day, March 14th, 2005, Ms.Ipong, sitting in a wheelchair, was subjected to the obligatory show and tell. The social hall at SOUTHCOM Headquarters was packed with leering media and grinning AFP officers who congratulated themselves on a job well done. With that anti-climatic apex the issue quickly devolved into one in which SOUTHCOM was being besieged by Leftis groups, both domestically and from abroad. Although the AFP can arrest people it cannot detain them passed tactical interrogation (though in reality it happens most of the time, my favorite case being a 10 year old boy who was brought to a battalion headquarters for questioning and then forcibly made into a houseboy for the post chaplain for four years). Interrogation having ended the AFP being under pressure, transferred custody of Ms.Ipong to the BJMP, or Bureau of Jail Management and Prisons, at its facility in the town of Ramon Magsaysay in Zamboanga del Sur Province. The problem with that ridiculous idea is that BJMP facilities are only allowed to detain sentenced prisoners. Pre-trial and trial detainees are relegated to LGU (Local Government Unit, as in municipalities and provinces) managed facilities.
So it was that on March 20th that the AFP was compelled to transport Ms.Ipong once again, this time to the Pagadian Reformatory Jail, the Pagadian City managed facility. It was here that Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Impong would spend the bulk of her imprisonment. Initially placed in a cell with nine other women, all incarcerated for criminal acts (as opposed to the Mass Murders Ms.Ipong was accused of commiting, which in her deluded mind, and the equally delusional minds of her NPA "comrades" constituted "political acts"), Ms.Ipong protested to the jail's administrative staff that such conditions were beneath her. For a moderate bribe she was allowed to sleep in the chapel for the rest of her time there. Bored beyond reason she then turned her attention towards gardening. Getting a parcel of land belonging to the jail Ms.Ipong began raising produce and flowers which she then began selling (so much for capitalism being evil). Finally joined by her fellow female inmates she then started a new venture, producing clothes via sewing machines and soon Ms.Ipong was controlling her own prison sweatshop, one of two businesses she began while still a prisoner. A third venture eventually followed, involving the manufacture of greeting cards that included pressed flowers from her prison garden.
After nearly four and a half years in the Pagadian Reformatory she was cleared of Rebellion in Court, with the prosecutor citing a lack of evidence.With that charge withdrawn it was time to travel to the next venue,Oroquieta City where she was lodged in the Misamis Occidental Provincial Jail. Not long after her arrival Ms.Ipong was able to have a foreign NGO donate three new sewing machines, enabling the then 64 year old woman to launch yet another prison-based garment business.The busy woman was also able to find the time needed to wite a book as well, though in reality it was written by Leftists in Manila and merely included a few recipes attributed to her and a couple of dozen "inspirational" letters written from prison. "The Letters and Diary of Angie B.Ipong," (Manila:InPeace) (2010) published via the Women and Children Concerns Committee of the NGO InPeace was an 85 page diatribe cum salad recipe compendium (I am 100% serious). The volume has been yet another moneymaking scheme with Ms.Ipong's supporters boosting sales with tales of suffering and oppression under the claim that all proceeds would be deposited in her legal support fund to pay for lawyers. In reality Ms.Ipong received absolutely free legal representation from local attorney Emiliano "Emil" Deleverio,Vice Chairperson of the multi-sectoral legal organisation UPLM (Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao).
Fast forward to the February Talks in Oslo in 2011. As I have repeated ad naseum, the NDFP Peace Panel has been extremely focused upon contraventions of JASIG, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees. With the CPP's General Secretary Alan Jazmines being arrested mere hours before Round I began on February 15th the GPH Panel tried to appear magnanimous by having at least one of the eighteen JASIG-protected "Consultants" released. GPH Panel Chairperson Padilla chose the easiest choice, Ms.Ipong, who at 66 had become the nation's oldest "Political Prisoner."Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad was assigned to the task and immediately faxed a letter to Judge Bernadette S.Paredes Echinareal of Regional Trial Court (RTC) #36 in Oroquieta City where Ms.Ipong was dealing with the last of her criminal charges. Fully aware that that the defendant would be freed in a matter of weeks, Chairman Padilla viewed the Ipong Case as a win:win gambit. Needing a JASIG quick fix, he found a detainee whose release was imminent and simply had the release expedited.
On February 18th, 2011, Day 3 of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was released and re-gained her freedom, her dignity,and her life.
President Aquino ensured that NDFP Peace Panel Chairman Luis G.Jalandoni and his wife, NDFP Peace Panelist Connie Ledesma each had their names removed from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) Persona Non-Grata List so that both could re-enter the Philippines (and then leave again when desired). Like virtually all of the chief ideologues of the CPP/NPA, of which the NDFP is merely a front, the couple remains ensconced in voluntary exile in the city of New Utrecht,in the Netherlands. Unlike the rest though, Jalandoni and Ledesma took Dutch citizenship years ago. In this way the couple has a much greater advantage than the rest of the CPP/NPA leadership because unlike their comrades (pun intended) they are somewhat free to travel, as long as it isn't to the Philippines. I say "somewhat" because in 2004, after lobbying by then-President Arroyo, the United States placed the CPP/NPA onto its list of terrorist organisations. Meanwhile, Jalandoni's elderly mother was near death and so the Government offered the ability to travel to and from the Philippines as a Good Will Gesture, though it was far short of the NDFP's "suggestion" that Aquino receive Jalandoni at the Presidential Palace.
President Aquino then enabled the BID modification for the couple and as he did so he took great pains to portray himself as taking the neccessary steps to re-implement JASIG. After the US declaration of the CPP/NPA as a terrorist entity the NPA had withdrawn from the Peace Process. The following year the Government unilaterally suspended JASIG, something it wasn't legally able to do since it is a bi-lateral agreement (though this being the Philippine Government that facts borders on irelevant). While the BID gesture was great in the immediate sense, the fact of the matter is that it seriously jeapordised all JASIG-protected persons.Though the re-implementation of JASIG merely amounted to the Government unilaterally deciding to recognise it.
Then, just hours before Round I of the Formal Talks began in Oslo on February 15th, 2011, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) arrested yet another JASIG-protected person, CPP General Secretary Alan Jazmines. The AFP, when informed of Jazmines' status as a Consultant to the NDFP's Peace Panel offered this little gem, "To hell with JASIG." That about nails the GPH policy on the agreement to a tee. To smoothe things over, so to speak, GPH Peace Panel Chairperson Alexander "Alex" Padilla had Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad intercede in the case of one of the then eighteen JASIG-protected persons sitting in detention, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong.
Angie Ipong,a native of Bicol, obtained a BA in History from Ateneo de Naga University and then joined her husband Boy in performing lay missionary work for various Catholic organisations. Feeling unfufilled at her job reading History at Assumption College in Quezon Province's Lucena City, she and her husband Boy decided to devote themselves fulltime to their Catholic Faith. By the late-1970s the couple decided to move south, to Cebu City. While in Cebu the couple drifted into Liberation Theology, a variant of Catholicism that advocates direct Church involvement in the political process (Whatever happened to "Render unto Caesar"?), and while not condoning violence outright, offering plausability and rationalisation for it so as to allow a great many adherants to cross the fine line from multi-sectoral front partisanship right into violent activity and outright rebellion. Among the people the couple met while in Cebu were a group of radicalised priests from a Maryknoll Residence in Tagum (now Tagum City) in Mindanao's Davao del Norte Province. At the priests' invitation the Ipongs relocated to Tagum and took positions at the Maryknoll "Christian Formation Center".
It was in Tagum that the couple drifted closer to crossing that aforementioned fine line. Not long after, they left Tagum to work with "Rural Missionaries of the Philippines," or (RMP). Then, as now, RMP is a thinly verneered NPA multi-sectoral front organisation.Unlike most other front organisations that exist to serve a multitude of purposes benefiting the CPP/NPA, RPM exists chiefly as a format for political indoctrination directly into the CPP,and as a conduit into the NPA itself.
On November 20th, 1983 Boy Ipong joined scores of Church functionaries and lay people for a ferry ride to Cebu City to attend a Church gathering. The ferry, the Dona Cassandra, left Nasipit in Agusan del Norte Province overloaded and just as Typhoon Orchid began touching down in the Visayas Region. Early on the 21st, as the ship traversed the Surigao Strait in the Leyte Sea, the ferry capsised with at least 167 deaths out of a passenger and crew manifest of 387 people. Among the 167 was Boy Ipong.
Though Ms.Ipong eventually took the plunge and became a full-fledged member of the NPA, she tended to concentrate on the ideological end of the equation. Known to fellow NPA members as "Ka Nilda," Ms.Ipong focused her efforts on bringing more and more people into the fold. In fact, on March 8th, 2005 she had been conducting a forum on the CARHRIHL,or Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law facet of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process to a group of newly indoctrinared people gathered at a private home in Anastacia Missionary Village, in Barangay Lumbayao in the municipality of Aloran in Misamis Occidental Province. At 145PM she took a break and just as she began a light lunch a group of ten men, in military fatigues and skimasks (known locally as "bonnets") and carrying M16s entered the house and immediately surrounded the shocked women. Tying her hands behind her back and blindfolding her the men,a combination of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) soldiers and officers from the PNP's (Philippines National Police) CIDG-10 (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group-Region-10) then led her out of the house and into incognito.
Immediately driven by van to 1ID (1st Infantry Division) Headquarters in the municipality of Labangan's Barangay Pulacan in Zamboanga del Sur Province.Arrested by virtue of warrants issued in Pagadian City and the town of Molave, both in that same province, as well as additional warrants in Misami Occidental Province's Oroquieta City, she was slapped with the usual generic charges applied to any and all mid to upper echelon NPA arrestees: Rebellion, Multiple Frustrated Murder, Arson, and so on. Barely subjected to interrogation while at Division Headquarters she was deemed high value enough to warrant a prompt transfer on March 12th to SOUTHCOM, the then unitary command responsible for all of Mindanao and its island possessions, at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte Province. It was there that Ms.Ipong's interrogation began.
As far as interrogations go it was a by the book (if THE book was at least 50 years old) almost anti-climatic affair. The first inquisitor was a junior officer who left her blindfoled (to re-inforce her vulnerability) and changed his rythym several times to keep her tense and off balance, berating her and often screaming threats. Ms.Ipong also claims to have been punched in the side during this and subsequent rounds of questioning.
Round II offered the first inquisitor's foil, the "good cop" of the well known "good cop:bad cop" routine. Removing Ms.Ipong's blindfold the senior officer acted enraged to find that she had been sleeping on a concrete floor and brusquely ordered inquisitor number one to immediately provide the detainee with a bed and took great pains to "admonish" the junior officer in the detainee's presence, warning him that he would be brought up on serious disciplinary charges if he ever came close to mis-treating any prisoner again. Of course this was entirely for her benefit since both inquisitors were running a standard interrogation technique. It is a very simple endeavour. Working with very basic human psychology, they soften up a subject by isolating them, removing any emotional footholds he or she may have retained. This is accomplished by interrupting the sleep pattern, serving a sub-standard diet, screaming at and insulting the subject and so on. Then, a new personality is introduced into the dynamic,a more senior officer so as to convey stability and reliability and instill trust. This senior officer "rights" most of the "wrongs" dished out by the first inquisitor. This naturally a initiates desire within the subject to please inquisitor number two, to show gratitude but mostly to avoid a repeat of the first round of interrogation.The inquisitors are alternated over a series of days,as was the case with Angie Ipong.
Round III saw the return of the first inquisitor, "Mr.Bad Cop." The junior office angrily ordered subordinates to remove the bed given to her by the second inquisitor, "Mr.Good Cop." Again her interrogator punched her in the side. Then the officer stepped it up a notch by ordering subordinate personnel to "strip" the then 60 year old woman naked. With her hands tied behind her back, and a blindfold over her eyes, Ms.Ipong maintains that the junior officer and his subordinates began touching her, squeezing her breasts and touching her genitals. Terrified Ms.Ipong pled with her tormentors, asking them to remember that she was 60 years old and that she was no different from their mothers or sisters. This caused the soldiers to laugh derisively, turning up the air conditioning to its maximum setting to offer even further discomfort. It was at this point that Ms.Ipong lost consciousness.
Coming to her senses the next morning, it took a few moments to realise she was naked, having been left exactly where she fell though sometime afterwards her blindfold had been removed. Hands still tied behind her back, but only loosely, as if to allow the prisoner to release herself when alone. Having gotten her hands free Ms.Ipong quickly dressed herself only to find just as she finished, that the callous junior officer had returned. That morning, March 13th, Round V of her interrogation began. Though she had been lying on the concrete floor all night a bed had been re-installed. Making a point to have it removed the officer had the blindfold re-applied and the hands re-bound, after having a subordinate forcefully pinion the detainee's hands behind her back. After punching her in her side once again the officer began his questioning.
By mid-morning her inquisitor exited and almost immediately the emphatic, courteous senior officer entered the room in tag team fashion. Round V began with the sentence again markedly demanding that her bed be re-installed he called the junior officer into the cell and threatened to have him court martialed for his "abuse" of Ms.Ipong. Dismissing him brusquely he downshifted and spoke tenderly to the frightened woman. He promised to have the junior officer docketed for his unseemly behavior but noted that he couldn't be on site 24 hours a day to protect her. He then played his hand; asking Ms.Ipong to "help" him, he offered to personally write down her answers, thus ensuring that they would be accurately recorded without omission OR embellishment and offered that this was the only way to neutralise the immediate threat posed by that abusive junior officer. If Ms.Ipong agreed to help him together they could ensure that no other prisoners would suffer from that same heartless treatment and abuse. Were the prisoner to question the correlation between her providing information and the disciplining of the unruly junior officer, the calm and reasonable senior officer would simply reply that were he to docket the abusive subordinate for his mistreatment of Ms.Ipong, his own superiors would assume that Ms.Ipong was lying or exaggerating about her mistreatment, something the senior officer wasn't able to personally witness. The powers that be would assume that the detainee was being manipulative but moreover, dishonest. However, IF he could show that the detainee had voluntarily provided even a scant modicum of information it would leave senior staff unable to make that point. Never having been arested or imprisoned Ms.Ipong had no way of knowing that this "kindly" senior officer was just as callous and manipulative as his junior counterpart.
With the completion of Round V Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was served with formal charges, delivered to SOUTHCOM Headquarters by a State Attorney on the afternoon of March 13th. Much to her suprise the 60 year old woman was notified that she was being saddled with Rebellion, Arson, Double Frustrated Murder, and Triple Frustrated Murder charges in three different venues. The three jurisdictions were:
1) Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur Province
2) Molave, Zamboanga del Sur Province
3) Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental Province
The next day, March 14th, 2005, Ms.Ipong, sitting in a wheelchair, was subjected to the obligatory show and tell. The social hall at SOUTHCOM Headquarters was packed with leering media and grinning AFP officers who congratulated themselves on a job well done. With that anti-climatic apex the issue quickly devolved into one in which SOUTHCOM was being besieged by Leftis groups, both domestically and from abroad. Although the AFP can arrest people it cannot detain them passed tactical interrogation (though in reality it happens most of the time, my favorite case being a 10 year old boy who was brought to a battalion headquarters for questioning and then forcibly made into a houseboy for the post chaplain for four years). Interrogation having ended the AFP being under pressure, transferred custody of Ms.Ipong to the BJMP, or Bureau of Jail Management and Prisons, at its facility in the town of Ramon Magsaysay in Zamboanga del Sur Province. The problem with that ridiculous idea is that BJMP facilities are only allowed to detain sentenced prisoners. Pre-trial and trial detainees are relegated to LGU (Local Government Unit, as in municipalities and provinces) managed facilities.
So it was that on March 20th that the AFP was compelled to transport Ms.Ipong once again, this time to the Pagadian Reformatory Jail, the Pagadian City managed facility. It was here that Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Impong would spend the bulk of her imprisonment. Initially placed in a cell with nine other women, all incarcerated for criminal acts (as opposed to the Mass Murders Ms.Ipong was accused of commiting, which in her deluded mind, and the equally delusional minds of her NPA "comrades" constituted "political acts"), Ms.Ipong protested to the jail's administrative staff that such conditions were beneath her. For a moderate bribe she was allowed to sleep in the chapel for the rest of her time there. Bored beyond reason she then turned her attention towards gardening. Getting a parcel of land belonging to the jail Ms.Ipong began raising produce and flowers which she then began selling (so much for capitalism being evil). Finally joined by her fellow female inmates she then started a new venture, producing clothes via sewing machines and soon Ms.Ipong was controlling her own prison sweatshop, one of two businesses she began while still a prisoner. A third venture eventually followed, involving the manufacture of greeting cards that included pressed flowers from her prison garden.
After nearly four and a half years in the Pagadian Reformatory she was cleared of Rebellion in Court, with the prosecutor citing a lack of evidence.With that charge withdrawn it was time to travel to the next venue,Oroquieta City where she was lodged in the Misamis Occidental Provincial Jail. Not long after her arrival Ms.Ipong was able to have a foreign NGO donate three new sewing machines, enabling the then 64 year old woman to launch yet another prison-based garment business.The busy woman was also able to find the time needed to wite a book as well, though in reality it was written by Leftists in Manila and merely included a few recipes attributed to her and a couple of dozen "inspirational" letters written from prison. "The Letters and Diary of Angie B.Ipong," (Manila:InPeace) (2010) published via the Women and Children Concerns Committee of the NGO InPeace was an 85 page diatribe cum salad recipe compendium (I am 100% serious). The volume has been yet another moneymaking scheme with Ms.Ipong's supporters boosting sales with tales of suffering and oppression under the claim that all proceeds would be deposited in her legal support fund to pay for lawyers. In reality Ms.Ipong received absolutely free legal representation from local attorney Emiliano "Emil" Deleverio,Vice Chairperson of the multi-sectoral legal organisation UPLM (Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao).
Fast forward to the February Talks in Oslo in 2011. As I have repeated ad naseum, the NDFP Peace Panel has been extremely focused upon contraventions of JASIG, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees. With the CPP's General Secretary Alan Jazmines being arrested mere hours before Round I began on February 15th the GPH Panel tried to appear magnanimous by having at least one of the eighteen JASIG-protected "Consultants" released. GPH Panel Chairperson Padilla chose the easiest choice, Ms.Ipong, who at 66 had become the nation's oldest "Political Prisoner."Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad was assigned to the task and immediately faxed a letter to Judge Bernadette S.Paredes Echinareal of Regional Trial Court (RTC) #36 in Oroquieta City where Ms.Ipong was dealing with the last of her criminal charges. Fully aware that that the defendant would be freed in a matter of weeks, Chairman Padilla viewed the Ipong Case as a win:win gambit. Needing a JASIG quick fix, he found a detainee whose release was imminent and simply had the release expedited.
On February 18th, 2011, Day 3 of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was released and re-gained her freedom, her dignity,and her life.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process,Second Quarter of 2011,Part IV:The Talks are Breaking Down
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Sunday, June 5, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process,Second Quarter of 2011,Part III:Focus Forums are the Flavour of the Day
In the Summer of 2008 the Government of the Philippines (GPH) came within a milimeter of finally bring at least a temporary intermission to the nation's then 36 year old Islamic Insurgency.That this brief reprieve would have ended up tearing the nation asunder mattered little to then President Gloria M.Arroyo who only operated out of avarice and egotism,in that order.Since coming to power in a coup in 2001 Madame Arroyo had obsessed over the Islamic Separatism that has left Mindanao the poorest region in an incredibly poor nation.The"solution"was a document now known as the MoA-AD,or Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
Non-Muslim warlords on Mindanao got wind of a very low key set of under the table negotiations taking place in Kuala Lampur,Malaysia.Moreover they were informed that the Arroyo Government was just about to sign away the bulk of non-Muslim lands in Central and Western Mindanao.These powerbrokers,Mayors Celso Lobregat (Zamboanga City),Lawrence Cruz (Iligan City),and Vice Governor Emmanuel"Manny"Pinol of North Cotabato Province pulled strings in Manila and got the Supreme Court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the signing of the document pending Supreme Court Review.
When the Court finally considered the MoA-AD they Ruled that it was Unconstitutional and that was that.Of course I am omitting a lot of other issues involved,especially the bloody 2 year war it precipitated,but sufficient to say for my purposes in this entry,one of the Constitutional issues cited was the lack of proper disclosure,especially vis a vis GPH and concerned stakeholders...like those aforementioned local warlords.Ergo the GPH-NDFP Peace Process isn't taking any chances.Both sides are taking a proactive stance with regard to stakeholder forums in which the respective Peace Panels jointly present their work to date followed by a Q and A (Question and Answer) Session with the audience.
On April 12,2011 both Panels fielded representatives for a lowkey unofficial forum.Fidel Agcaoli,labeled Vice Chairperson of the NDFP Peace Panel,did the honours for his organisation at Davao City's Mandaya Hotel.Among other things he took great pains to explain that the GPH Concessions given after Hong Kong (December,2010) and before Round I in Oslo (February 15 through 27,2011) weren't Concessions at all but rather were the CPP/NPA/NDFP's just rewards.Agcaoli noted that the Government is party to legally signed bilateral Agreements and as such doesn't have any choice BUT TO put up or shut up.Naturally he segued directly into a spiel about JASIG,the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees.As I have noted in at least 2 other recent CPP/NPA/NDFP entries the NDFP has been less than satisfied with GPH performance with regard to this Agreement.As Agcaoli noted,if the GPH fails to put out on this very simple and incredibly basic document,what hope is there that the CPP/NPA/NDFP could ever see the Philippine Government keep its word about anything.
Predictably,since the forum was being held in Davao City,GPH Panel Member Ednar Dayanghirang spoke at length as well.Mr.Dayanghirang is a native of neighbouring Davao Oriental Province where he splits his time farming mangoes and hosting a local cable access show devoted to local current events.As luck would have it he happened to have hosted that show on a Davao City-based cable television system so that he should be familiar to at least some of the attendees.
Between the 2 Panel Members they covered the entire 4-part Framework for the Final Peace Agreement.Revealingly the extremely verbose Dayanghirang told his audience that it was the NDFP itself that originally suggested that University of the Philippines (UP) Law School Dean Alexander"Alex"Padilla Chair the GPH Peace Panel.Though Padilla was serving the governmeent in addition to his academic position he is well known to the NDFP because he is in fact a former member.In the Marcos Era Padilla regularly provided captured CPP and NPA members with legal counsel.The quotation incorrectly attributed to Churchill comes to mind,"A man who isn't a Socialist by age 20 hasn't a heart.A man who hasn't rejected Socialism by age 40 hasn't a brain."
That the first forum went so well is suprising given the drama that had transpired just the day before,April 11th.Fidel Agcaoli went ballistic when he learned of recent comments made by Alex Padilla.In a radio interview the week before Padilla was asked to offer his take on the chances for success in the GPH-NDFP Peace Process.Amazingly Padilla said that he believed those chances to be very strong given the technological advances experienced in recent years.Asked to clarify his answer Padilla remarked that where as in the Marcos Era rebelliousness only found an outlet in deeds today's youth can vent on Facebook,Friendster and MySpace.Continuing in what has to be the best example of verbal dhiarrea seen in a long while Padilla said that Social Media will put an end to groups like the NPA.Aaaaah,if only it were true Alex,only if...
On April 19,2011 Mr.Dayanghirang was back on Luzon where he joined Sr.Military Advisor the GPH Peace Panel,Brigadier General Reynaldo"Rey"Ordonez in a briefing given to students at NDC (National Defense College) on the grounds of Camp Aguinaldo,the AFP General HQ (Headquarters) in Metro Manila's Quezon City.The students,all in the MNSA (Masters in National Security) Track weren't impressed,to say the least.
To a tee they all doubted the CPP/NPA/NDFP's sincerity.Showing his inexperience Dayanghirang tried to debate the students but only came off looking naïve at best.Luckily BGen.Ordonez stepped in and like an able tactician (rare in the AFP) explained that the CPP/NPA/NDFP's sincerity,or insincerity,is irrelevant.The fact that they are at the Table at all for the first time in nearly 6 years is progress enough for the moment.With that the students were brought to heel and what little time remained in the Briefing went a whole lot smoother.
The Davao City and NDC Talks were just warmups with the bulk of the forums to be held from April 27th to May 6th.
The first one,on April 27th took place in the municipality of Lacub,in Abra Province in Northern Luzon.Entitled"Addressing the Roots of the Armed Conflict Towards a Just and Lasting Peace"it was sponsored jointly by the CPA and the Party List organisation KATRIBU so should have added,"As Long as it Spells Victory for the NPA"as a subtitle.Taking place on the final day of a 3 day festival,the annually held Cordillera Day,the forum took a unique direction by directly inviting not only social and religious leaders but a representative of each of the Cordilleran Provinces who were tasked with representing the views and concerns of the hilltribes within their respective province.While Mindanowan hilltribes are known collectively as"Lumad,"Cordillerans are known either as"Igorot"or as"Tinggurian."Like the Lumad the Igorot/Tinggurian are at the bottom rung of their respective social and cultural ladder.Likewise they also are identical to Lumad in the respect that they are the most vulnerable to NPA/AFP recruitment and violence.Just as on Mindanao they must deal with extra-fierce Developmental Aggression from a government that has never given them a single ounce of respect or assistance.Used by both the Government and the NPA they continue to suffer,caught perennially in the middle.
Cordillera Day is sponsored by the CPA,the Cordillera Peoples Alliance,an umbrella entity founded in 1984 to unite the disparate Leftist groups either under or more usually un-represented by the national Leftist umbrella the NDF,or National Democratic Front (now known as the NDFP since adding"Philippines"to its moniker).Held in a different Cordilleran locale each year the 2011 festival is the 27th and attracts thousands of visitors.Suprisingly then,when Lacub officials learned that the Forum would also be held they suddenly got cold feet for the festival and begged off citing logistical,infrastructural AND security concerns.Festival AND forum organisers weren't about to be shunted aside and so revealed that Lacub's mayor had given the go ahead weeks in advance.
On the day in question the GHP Panel was represented by Peace Panelist Ednar Dayanghirang who concurrently Chairs the Panel's RWC-SER (Reciprocal Working Committee on Socio-Economic Reforms).Since the forum is only dealing with CASER,or the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms,this made him the best man for the job,besides his being the only Panelist willing to stump for the team.More over Mr.Dayanghirang is himself a Lumad,a Mandaya Tribesmen (how fitting then the locale of the Davao City Forum at the beginning of this entry).Joining him was Father Albert Alejo,Member of that same RWC-SER,and Jimmid Mansayag.Mr.Mansayag is also a Lumad,an Aroman Manobo Tribesman from the upper North Cotabato plateau in Central Mindanao.He is serving as a Resource Person (Consultant) on the RWC-SER with regard to IP (Indigenous People,in this sense Lumad,Igorot and Tinggurian).Sadly one never sees Negritos even mentioned and yet who could be any more"indigenous"than these first Filipinos?Neither Lumad nor Christian and as far as one can get from being Muslim,this demographic is truly the least served of all Filipino demographics.
For the NDFP Panel none other than Rafael Baylosis himself took the honours.Baylosis is a Consultant to the Panel and serves as a Member of its RWC-SER.It will be recalled that My.Baylosis,who is also the Secretary General of the CPP,or Communist Party of the Philippines,was incarcerated until released just prior to Round I,per GPH concession despite his holding immunity under JASIG.Conveniently joining Mr.Baylosis was Beverly L.Longid who not only serves the NDFP Peace Panel as its IP Resource Person but who co-incidentally sits as President of KATRIBU.
The representatives of each Cordilleran Province:
1) Abra
2) Apayao
3) Ifugao
4) Kalinga
5) Mountain
6) Benguet
all voiced the same wish list with very little differentiation.I will spare the Cordilleran-specific issues since I limit my focus to Mindanao but sufficient to say that some concerns were in fact universal.Issues like Global Warming,support for small scale agriculture,the desire for de-militarisation,rehabilitation of the Mining Act of 1995 as well as of IPRA (Indigenous Peoples Rights Act) and its pursuant CAD and CADT (Certificate of Ancestral Domain and CAD Title) all scored highly as chief concerns.
Non-Muslim warlords on Mindanao got wind of a very low key set of under the table negotiations taking place in Kuala Lampur,Malaysia.Moreover they were informed that the Arroyo Government was just about to sign away the bulk of non-Muslim lands in Central and Western Mindanao.These powerbrokers,Mayors Celso Lobregat (Zamboanga City),Lawrence Cruz (Iligan City),and Vice Governor Emmanuel"Manny"Pinol of North Cotabato Province pulled strings in Manila and got the Supreme Court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the signing of the document pending Supreme Court Review.
When the Court finally considered the MoA-AD they Ruled that it was Unconstitutional and that was that.Of course I am omitting a lot of other issues involved,especially the bloody 2 year war it precipitated,but sufficient to say for my purposes in this entry,one of the Constitutional issues cited was the lack of proper disclosure,especially vis a vis GPH and concerned stakeholders...like those aforementioned local warlords.Ergo the GPH-NDFP Peace Process isn't taking any chances.Both sides are taking a proactive stance with regard to stakeholder forums in which the respective Peace Panels jointly present their work to date followed by a Q and A (Question and Answer) Session with the audience.
On April 12,2011 both Panels fielded representatives for a lowkey unofficial forum.Fidel Agcaoli,labeled Vice Chairperson of the NDFP Peace Panel,did the honours for his organisation at Davao City's Mandaya Hotel.Among other things he took great pains to explain that the GPH Concessions given after Hong Kong (December,2010) and before Round I in Oslo (February 15 through 27,2011) weren't Concessions at all but rather were the CPP/NPA/NDFP's just rewards.Agcaoli noted that the Government is party to legally signed bilateral Agreements and as such doesn't have any choice BUT TO put up or shut up.Naturally he segued directly into a spiel about JASIG,the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees.As I have noted in at least 2 other recent CPP/NPA/NDFP entries the NDFP has been less than satisfied with GPH performance with regard to this Agreement.As Agcaoli noted,if the GPH fails to put out on this very simple and incredibly basic document,what hope is there that the CPP/NPA/NDFP could ever see the Philippine Government keep its word about anything.
Predictably,since the forum was being held in Davao City,GPH Panel Member Ednar Dayanghirang spoke at length as well.Mr.Dayanghirang is a native of neighbouring Davao Oriental Province where he splits his time farming mangoes and hosting a local cable access show devoted to local current events.As luck would have it he happened to have hosted that show on a Davao City-based cable television system so that he should be familiar to at least some of the attendees.
Between the 2 Panel Members they covered the entire 4-part Framework for the Final Peace Agreement.Revealingly the extremely verbose Dayanghirang told his audience that it was the NDFP itself that originally suggested that University of the Philippines (UP) Law School Dean Alexander"Alex"Padilla Chair the GPH Peace Panel.Though Padilla was serving the governmeent in addition to his academic position he is well known to the NDFP because he is in fact a former member.In the Marcos Era Padilla regularly provided captured CPP and NPA members with legal counsel.The quotation incorrectly attributed to Churchill comes to mind,"A man who isn't a Socialist by age 20 hasn't a heart.A man who hasn't rejected Socialism by age 40 hasn't a brain."
That the first forum went so well is suprising given the drama that had transpired just the day before,April 11th.Fidel Agcaoli went ballistic when he learned of recent comments made by Alex Padilla.In a radio interview the week before Padilla was asked to offer his take on the chances for success in the GPH-NDFP Peace Process.Amazingly Padilla said that he believed those chances to be very strong given the technological advances experienced in recent years.Asked to clarify his answer Padilla remarked that where as in the Marcos Era rebelliousness only found an outlet in deeds today's youth can vent on Facebook,Friendster and MySpace.Continuing in what has to be the best example of verbal dhiarrea seen in a long while Padilla said that Social Media will put an end to groups like the NPA.Aaaaah,if only it were true Alex,only if...
On April 19,2011 Mr.Dayanghirang was back on Luzon where he joined Sr.Military Advisor the GPH Peace Panel,Brigadier General Reynaldo"Rey"Ordonez in a briefing given to students at NDC (National Defense College) on the grounds of Camp Aguinaldo,the AFP General HQ (Headquarters) in Metro Manila's Quezon City.The students,all in the MNSA (Masters in National Security) Track weren't impressed,to say the least.
To a tee they all doubted the CPP/NPA/NDFP's sincerity.Showing his inexperience Dayanghirang tried to debate the students but only came off looking naïve at best.Luckily BGen.Ordonez stepped in and like an able tactician (rare in the AFP) explained that the CPP/NPA/NDFP's sincerity,or insincerity,is irrelevant.The fact that they are at the Table at all for the first time in nearly 6 years is progress enough for the moment.With that the students were brought to heel and what little time remained in the Briefing went a whole lot smoother.
The Davao City and NDC Talks were just warmups with the bulk of the forums to be held from April 27th to May 6th.
The first one,on April 27th took place in the municipality of Lacub,in Abra Province in Northern Luzon.Entitled"Addressing the Roots of the Armed Conflict Towards a Just and Lasting Peace"it was sponsored jointly by the CPA and the Party List organisation KATRIBU so should have added,"As Long as it Spells Victory for the NPA"as a subtitle.Taking place on the final day of a 3 day festival,the annually held Cordillera Day,the forum took a unique direction by directly inviting not only social and religious leaders but a representative of each of the Cordilleran Provinces who were tasked with representing the views and concerns of the hilltribes within their respective province.While Mindanowan hilltribes are known collectively as"Lumad,"Cordillerans are known either as"Igorot"or as"Tinggurian."Like the Lumad the Igorot/Tinggurian are at the bottom rung of their respective social and cultural ladder.Likewise they also are identical to Lumad in the respect that they are the most vulnerable to NPA/AFP recruitment and violence.Just as on Mindanao they must deal with extra-fierce Developmental Aggression from a government that has never given them a single ounce of respect or assistance.Used by both the Government and the NPA they continue to suffer,caught perennially in the middle.
Cordillera Day is sponsored by the CPA,the Cordillera Peoples Alliance,an umbrella entity founded in 1984 to unite the disparate Leftist groups either under or more usually un-represented by the national Leftist umbrella the NDF,or National Democratic Front (now known as the NDFP since adding"Philippines"to its moniker).Held in a different Cordilleran locale each year the 2011 festival is the 27th and attracts thousands of visitors.Suprisingly then,when Lacub officials learned that the Forum would also be held they suddenly got cold feet for the festival and begged off citing logistical,infrastructural AND security concerns.Festival AND forum organisers weren't about to be shunted aside and so revealed that Lacub's mayor had given the go ahead weeks in advance.
On the day in question the GHP Panel was represented by Peace Panelist Ednar Dayanghirang who concurrently Chairs the Panel's RWC-SER (Reciprocal Working Committee on Socio-Economic Reforms).Since the forum is only dealing with CASER,or the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms,this made him the best man for the job,besides his being the only Panelist willing to stump for the team.More over Mr.Dayanghirang is himself a Lumad,a Mandaya Tribesmen (how fitting then the locale of the Davao City Forum at the beginning of this entry).Joining him was Father Albert Alejo,Member of that same RWC-SER,and Jimmid Mansayag.Mr.Mansayag is also a Lumad,an Aroman Manobo Tribesman from the upper North Cotabato plateau in Central Mindanao.He is serving as a Resource Person (Consultant) on the RWC-SER with regard to IP (Indigenous People,in this sense Lumad,Igorot and Tinggurian).Sadly one never sees Negritos even mentioned and yet who could be any more"indigenous"than these first Filipinos?Neither Lumad nor Christian and as far as one can get from being Muslim,this demographic is truly the least served of all Filipino demographics.
For the NDFP Panel none other than Rafael Baylosis himself took the honours.Baylosis is a Consultant to the Panel and serves as a Member of its RWC-SER.It will be recalled that My.Baylosis,who is also the Secretary General of the CPP,or Communist Party of the Philippines,was incarcerated until released just prior to Round I,per GPH concession despite his holding immunity under JASIG.Conveniently joining Mr.Baylosis was Beverly L.Longid who not only serves the NDFP Peace Panel as its IP Resource Person but who co-incidentally sits as President of KATRIBU.
The representatives of each Cordilleran Province:
1) Abra
2) Apayao
3) Ifugao
4) Kalinga
5) Mountain
6) Benguet
all voiced the same wish list with very little differentiation.I will spare the Cordilleran-specific issues since I limit my focus to Mindanao but sufficient to say that some concerns were in fact universal.Issues like Global Warming,support for small scale agriculture,the desire for de-militarisation,rehabilitation of the Mining Act of 1995 as well as of IPRA (Indigenous Peoples Rights Act) and its pursuant CAD and CADT (Certificate of Ancestral Domain and CAD Title) all scored highly as chief concerns.
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.
Monday, May 23, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process, First Quarter of 2011, Vol.I: Preliminary Talks in Oslo, Norway and Three Arrests Worth Noting
Following the tet a tet in Hong Kong on December 2nd and 3rd, 2010, the two Panels agreed to hold Preliminary Talks from January 14th to the 21st in Oslo, Norway. Foremost on the NDFP's agenda was the re-implementation of JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees. JASIG was created on February 24th, 1995 and is designed to allow free movement and freedom from arrest and prosecution for all NDFP personnel directly involved with the Peace Process. Under former President Arroyo JASIG had been formally suspended on August 3rd, 2005 (though it then remained in effect for 30 days past that date) not long after the CPP/NPA/NDFP had officially withdrawn from negotiations owing to President Arroyo's successful lobbying of the United States to have the CPP/NPA added to America's list of terrorist organisations.
In other developments from Hong Kong, both sides re-affirmed Norway's role as the Facilitator to the Peace Process. Unlike the GPH-MILF Peace Process with Malaysia as Facilitator, Norway doesn't simply appoint a single individual but rather a Secretariat, though different terminology is used. In real terms, Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines, Tore Lundh, is Chairing that Facilitation Secretariat and so, for better or for worse, Ambassador Lundh gets tarred as the "Facilitator."
Having had a 6 year break between Formal Rounds both sides had to play formal catch up. In other words, in the interim both sides- especially the NDFP- were assesing and re-assesing all prior Agreements as to continued viability, currency and so on. However, jumping back into the Peace Process requires certain diplomatic protocols and formalities. One such formality is the decison to re-assess prior Agreements despite them having been constantly re-assesed during the long wait.
The NDFP, predictably, raised the issue of recent NPA arrestees whom they claim are NDFP Consultants to the Peace Process. According to JASIG Consultants will be issued identifying documents from the NDFP specifying their status as Consultants. These unspecified "documents" will then serve as Safe Conduct Passes allowing free and unmolested movement throughout the Philippines, as well as allowing travel into and out of the country. JASIG is ambiguous on the type of ID as well as not requiring any type of notification to the Government about who is serving as Consultants at any given time (or serving at all, though there were 2 additional Agreements on JASIG that are supposed to help rectify this problem), nor even the total number of members doing so. The NDFP then manipulates the Agreement by claiming that every high placed arrestee is protected under JASIG. On the other side of the coin, the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, absolutely ignores the Agreement except for the 4 actual members of the NDFP Peace Panel.
When the meeting in Hong Kong took place the NDFP claimed 15 arrestees were being held in violation of the Agreement.In particular 3 of those members:
1) Rafael Baylosis
2) Randall Echanis
3) Vicente Ladlad
were labelled as absolutely "vital" to the next phase of the Process, CASER (Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms). Ergo it was asked that their releases be expedited so as to allow them to participate by the opening of Formal Resumption, on February 15th, 2011. However, between the meeting's conclusion on December 3rd, 2010 and the opening of the Preliminary Talk on January 14th three more names were added to the overall list. At 3AM on New Years Day, January 1st, 2011 Edwin "Ka Julie" Brigano was arrested in Davao City on Mindanao.
Brigano, who also used the nom de guerre "Ka Patao" had availed himself to an offer made by that city's Vice Mayor, Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte. A local warlord himself, Duterte sits with his daughter Sarah Duterte Carpio as Mayor since his term limit as Mayor expired in 2010. Duterte has led Davao City since the late 1980s after coming to a working agreement with local NPA leader Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao. At the time almost the entire city was controlled by the NPA but because of organisational wide internal purges its parallel city government was unable to exert proper control and the city was turning into a warzone as various state-sanctioned paramilitaries asserted themselves under the greatly weakened NPA. When Duterte rose to power it was only because Ka Parago had guaranteed him the vote in NPA-controlled barangays and districts. After winning that first election as Mayor in 1988 he entered into a more permanent arrangement with Ka Parago so as to end the bloodshed engulfing Davao City as the NPA and state sponsored paramilitaries took it to the street in a life and death struggle for supremacy.
Realising that the key to long lasting success is the fostering of what the Philippine Government likes to call, "Peace and Development" but what in reality can be very simply stated as "pesos." Duterte and Ka Parago agreed that the NPA would receive carte blanche to run its parallel government in three outlying city districts:
1) Toril
2) Paquibato
3) Marilog
and to a lesser extent Calinan and Baguio Districts as well. For this concession Ka Parago vowed that he would limit any NPA tactical operations to those three districts and moreover would relegate armed activities to security operations such as armed patrols and the like. Duterte also agreed to pay Ka Parago a healthy sum each month and to occasionally offer logistical and materiel support as well but that is a sordid tale for another time.
After the meeting in Hong Kong both sides announced a 16 day Ceasefire (covered in my NPA entry for the last quarter of 2010). Vice Mayor Duterte then went a step further and invited any and all NPA members who wished to, to come to Davao City and enjoy the holiday without fear of hassles from the AFP or PNP (Philippine National Police). In fact, Duterte even invited Ka Parago to an all expence paid holiday at the city's finest hotel, on the city's tab. As "grateful" as Ka Parago was he instead invited the Vice Mayor and his daughter, the Mayor, up to his camp in Paquibato District for a different take on the holiday. In fact father and daughter DID end up taking Ka Parago up on his offer, albeit very quietly and low key.
Meanwhile, an NPA leader from ComVal (Compostela Valley Province) decided to enjoy a safe and secure holiday in a nice warm bed. Coming out of the ComVal mountains Edwin Brigano made his way to his mother in law's home in Toril District's Barangay Bago Gallera. Much to his suprise, with 3 days left on the Ceasefire, he was pulled out of bed, hooded and hogtied. Adding to Brigano's discomfort was the fact that he had just taken a hiatus from his role within the organisation, as Secretary, or leader of Front 33, the Armando Dumandan Command in order to obtain much needed medical care for Hepatitis and a respritory illness he had acquired in the jungle.
Vice Mayor Duterte was beyond livid. He immediately began berating PNP Inspector Pedro V.Tango, Director of the Davao del Sur PPO (Police Provincial Office).The following week things heated up by several degrees as Duterte took to the airwaves on his weekly Sunday morning television show, "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa" (From the Masses, to the Masses). In the best tradition of dictators the world over, men like Hugo Chavez, Manuel Noriega and Moamar Khadaffy (Ghadaffi), Duterte's "show" is a 3 hour long exercise in non-sensical and egotistical rhetoric. Personally, my favourite "episode" was when Duterte invited Chinese drug lords to his city to open methamphetamine labs so that he could lock their doors and set fire to the buildings with them inside it. Others might prefer the numerous times he has admitted orchestrating death squads that target 12 year old "criminals." Duterte is the quinessential Mindanowan politico.
On the Sunday in question Duterte actually said the following, speaking in Cebuano, the lingua franca amongst non-Muslims on Mindanao, "There are bright Generals, but this Tango is not using the grey matter between his ears. If you create a bigger problem, if you are incompetent and don't know what you are doing for the country then you must go!" It was a classic Duterte moment because the raid wasn't even conducted by PPO Davao del Sur. Inspector Tango had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was undertaken by the PNP's CIDG-11 (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region XI) and SAF, the PNP Special Forces. Tango definitely earned my respect in how he handled himself following those comments. Mindanao is an island where one sees the most arrogant pissant tin soldier type of mentality (as typified by old Roddy). I mean, anyone who sits for a Newsweek (US based international news magazine) piece and brags about killing people extra-judicially is beyond a carticature of "macho" or "Alpha Male," and yet juxtaposed against Vice Mayor Duterte's unabashed arrogance was Inspector Tango, not meekly but magnanimously offering that even though he wasn't responsible,he holds no grudges against Davao City's benevolent dictator. Of course it is always possible that Tango is a even more of a real man and simply settles scores privately. In the end, Tango was set to retire on April 29th when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 56. Two weeks prior to that date Duterte sponsored a dinner feting the man, apparently having realised that he had been completely mistaken over the responsibility in the Brigano Case. After the meal Duterte told the media that Tango rated an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Tango offered that it was all water under the bridge, that he had never blamed Duterte.
And what of Edwin Brigano? He was nabbed on 2 separate warrants. The first from RTC (Regional Trial Court) #6 under Judge Patricio Balite in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur Province was for Double Frustrated Murder. The second, from RTC #3 under an unnamed jurist in Nabunturan, ComVal, was for Rebellion, the generic charge slapped on every Communist guerilla though for some unknown reason it is rarely utilised against any Muslim guerilla. I suppose that the Government MIGHT believe the phrase "Muslim Rebel" to be redundant. Brigano claims to have never having been to Agusan del Sur Province despite it being 4km from his boyhood home. In fact, prior to leading Front 33 he had led Front 2 whose AOR (Area of Responsibility) happens to include much of Agusan del Sur. On January 3rd, 2011 Brigano's attorney filed an urgent motion in RTC #3 in ComVal asking the court to compel CIDG-11 to produce Brigano in front of the court. The motion claimed that CIDG had no intention of allowing Brigano his day in the sun per his Constitutional Rights. More over, the motion claimed that CIDG personnel were subjecting Brigano to mental torture. The last allegation was sheer theatrics given the fact that anybody who wished to was allowed to vist with Brigano outside his cell.
In fact, two of his elder sisters visited him that same Wednesday. One of the women, only a year older than her 53 year old brother told how Brigano was asked to tend their elder brother's farm one day back in 1978. Left alone tending the crops and critters in Barangay Casoon in Comval's municipality of Monkayo, the 18 year old simply disappeared without a word to anyone. Despite leading an NPA element in another part of the province he never once tried to contact his grief stricken family. The woman's daughter had been watching the television news just the day before seeing Brigano doing the Perp Walk for the cameras. The girl, who had never met her uncle, excitedly told her mother that the arrestee looked just like an uncle she did know, Brigano's much younger brother. The family had believed Brigano dead all these years. They had mourned him, they had moved on with life. The matriarch of the family couldn't bear to visit her son, she was still in a state of shock. She was still in denial, all the more so because "Edwin Brigano" isn't his given name. It is a new identity assumed since joining the NPA.
To be continued...
In other developments from Hong Kong, both sides re-affirmed Norway's role as the Facilitator to the Peace Process. Unlike the GPH-MILF Peace Process with Malaysia as Facilitator, Norway doesn't simply appoint a single individual but rather a Secretariat, though different terminology is used. In real terms, Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines, Tore Lundh, is Chairing that Facilitation Secretariat and so, for better or for worse, Ambassador Lundh gets tarred as the "Facilitator."
Having had a 6 year break between Formal Rounds both sides had to play formal catch up. In other words, in the interim both sides- especially the NDFP- were assesing and re-assesing all prior Agreements as to continued viability, currency and so on. However, jumping back into the Peace Process requires certain diplomatic protocols and formalities. One such formality is the decison to re-assess prior Agreements despite them having been constantly re-assesed during the long wait.
The NDFP, predictably, raised the issue of recent NPA arrestees whom they claim are NDFP Consultants to the Peace Process. According to JASIG Consultants will be issued identifying documents from the NDFP specifying their status as Consultants. These unspecified "documents" will then serve as Safe Conduct Passes allowing free and unmolested movement throughout the Philippines, as well as allowing travel into and out of the country. JASIG is ambiguous on the type of ID as well as not requiring any type of notification to the Government about who is serving as Consultants at any given time (or serving at all, though there were 2 additional Agreements on JASIG that are supposed to help rectify this problem), nor even the total number of members doing so. The NDFP then manipulates the Agreement by claiming that every high placed arrestee is protected under JASIG. On the other side of the coin, the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, absolutely ignores the Agreement except for the 4 actual members of the NDFP Peace Panel.
When the meeting in Hong Kong took place the NDFP claimed 15 arrestees were being held in violation of the Agreement.In particular 3 of those members:
1) Rafael Baylosis
2) Randall Echanis
3) Vicente Ladlad
were labelled as absolutely "vital" to the next phase of the Process, CASER (Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms). Ergo it was asked that their releases be expedited so as to allow them to participate by the opening of Formal Resumption, on February 15th, 2011. However, between the meeting's conclusion on December 3rd, 2010 and the opening of the Preliminary Talk on January 14th three more names were added to the overall list. At 3AM on New Years Day, January 1st, 2011 Edwin "Ka Julie" Brigano was arrested in Davao City on Mindanao.
Brigano, who also used the nom de guerre "Ka Patao" had availed himself to an offer made by that city's Vice Mayor, Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte. A local warlord himself, Duterte sits with his daughter Sarah Duterte Carpio as Mayor since his term limit as Mayor expired in 2010. Duterte has led Davao City since the late 1980s after coming to a working agreement with local NPA leader Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao. At the time almost the entire city was controlled by the NPA but because of organisational wide internal purges its parallel city government was unable to exert proper control and the city was turning into a warzone as various state-sanctioned paramilitaries asserted themselves under the greatly weakened NPA. When Duterte rose to power it was only because Ka Parago had guaranteed him the vote in NPA-controlled barangays and districts. After winning that first election as Mayor in 1988 he entered into a more permanent arrangement with Ka Parago so as to end the bloodshed engulfing Davao City as the NPA and state sponsored paramilitaries took it to the street in a life and death struggle for supremacy.
Realising that the key to long lasting success is the fostering of what the Philippine Government likes to call, "Peace and Development" but what in reality can be very simply stated as "pesos." Duterte and Ka Parago agreed that the NPA would receive carte blanche to run its parallel government in three outlying city districts:
1) Toril
2) Paquibato
3) Marilog
and to a lesser extent Calinan and Baguio Districts as well. For this concession Ka Parago vowed that he would limit any NPA tactical operations to those three districts and moreover would relegate armed activities to security operations such as armed patrols and the like. Duterte also agreed to pay Ka Parago a healthy sum each month and to occasionally offer logistical and materiel support as well but that is a sordid tale for another time.
After the meeting in Hong Kong both sides announced a 16 day Ceasefire (covered in my NPA entry for the last quarter of 2010). Vice Mayor Duterte then went a step further and invited any and all NPA members who wished to, to come to Davao City and enjoy the holiday without fear of hassles from the AFP or PNP (Philippine National Police). In fact, Duterte even invited Ka Parago to an all expence paid holiday at the city's finest hotel, on the city's tab. As "grateful" as Ka Parago was he instead invited the Vice Mayor and his daughter, the Mayor, up to his camp in Paquibato District for a different take on the holiday. In fact father and daughter DID end up taking Ka Parago up on his offer, albeit very quietly and low key.
Meanwhile, an NPA leader from ComVal (Compostela Valley Province) decided to enjoy a safe and secure holiday in a nice warm bed. Coming out of the ComVal mountains Edwin Brigano made his way to his mother in law's home in Toril District's Barangay Bago Gallera. Much to his suprise, with 3 days left on the Ceasefire, he was pulled out of bed, hooded and hogtied. Adding to Brigano's discomfort was the fact that he had just taken a hiatus from his role within the organisation, as Secretary, or leader of Front 33, the Armando Dumandan Command in order to obtain much needed medical care for Hepatitis and a respritory illness he had acquired in the jungle.
Vice Mayor Duterte was beyond livid. He immediately began berating PNP Inspector Pedro V.Tango, Director of the Davao del Sur PPO (Police Provincial Office).The following week things heated up by several degrees as Duterte took to the airwaves on his weekly Sunday morning television show, "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa" (From the Masses, to the Masses). In the best tradition of dictators the world over, men like Hugo Chavez, Manuel Noriega and Moamar Khadaffy (Ghadaffi), Duterte's "show" is a 3 hour long exercise in non-sensical and egotistical rhetoric. Personally, my favourite "episode" was when Duterte invited Chinese drug lords to his city to open methamphetamine labs so that he could lock their doors and set fire to the buildings with them inside it. Others might prefer the numerous times he has admitted orchestrating death squads that target 12 year old "criminals." Duterte is the quinessential Mindanowan politico.
On the Sunday in question Duterte actually said the following, speaking in Cebuano, the lingua franca amongst non-Muslims on Mindanao, "There are bright Generals, but this Tango is not using the grey matter between his ears. If you create a bigger problem, if you are incompetent and don't know what you are doing for the country then you must go!" It was a classic Duterte moment because the raid wasn't even conducted by PPO Davao del Sur. Inspector Tango had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was undertaken by the PNP's CIDG-11 (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region XI) and SAF, the PNP Special Forces. Tango definitely earned my respect in how he handled himself following those comments. Mindanao is an island where one sees the most arrogant pissant tin soldier type of mentality (as typified by old Roddy). I mean, anyone who sits for a Newsweek (US based international news magazine) piece and brags about killing people extra-judicially is beyond a carticature of "macho" or "Alpha Male," and yet juxtaposed against Vice Mayor Duterte's unabashed arrogance was Inspector Tango, not meekly but magnanimously offering that even though he wasn't responsible,he holds no grudges against Davao City's benevolent dictator. Of course it is always possible that Tango is a even more of a real man and simply settles scores privately. In the end, Tango was set to retire on April 29th when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 56. Two weeks prior to that date Duterte sponsored a dinner feting the man, apparently having realised that he had been completely mistaken over the responsibility in the Brigano Case. After the meal Duterte told the media that Tango rated an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Tango offered that it was all water under the bridge, that he had never blamed Duterte.
And what of Edwin Brigano? He was nabbed on 2 separate warrants. The first from RTC (Regional Trial Court) #6 under Judge Patricio Balite in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur Province was for Double Frustrated Murder. The second, from RTC #3 under an unnamed jurist in Nabunturan, ComVal, was for Rebellion, the generic charge slapped on every Communist guerilla though for some unknown reason it is rarely utilised against any Muslim guerilla. I suppose that the Government MIGHT believe the phrase "Muslim Rebel" to be redundant. Brigano claims to have never having been to Agusan del Sur Province despite it being 4km from his boyhood home. In fact, prior to leading Front 33 he had led Front 2 whose AOR (Area of Responsibility) happens to include much of Agusan del Sur. On January 3rd, 2011 Brigano's attorney filed an urgent motion in RTC #3 in ComVal asking the court to compel CIDG-11 to produce Brigano in front of the court. The motion claimed that CIDG had no intention of allowing Brigano his day in the sun per his Constitutional Rights. More over, the motion claimed that CIDG personnel were subjecting Brigano to mental torture. The last allegation was sheer theatrics given the fact that anybody who wished to was allowed to vist with Brigano outside his cell.
In fact, two of his elder sisters visited him that same Wednesday. One of the women, only a year older than her 53 year old brother told how Brigano was asked to tend their elder brother's farm one day back in 1978. Left alone tending the crops and critters in Barangay Casoon in Comval's municipality of Monkayo, the 18 year old simply disappeared without a word to anyone. Despite leading an NPA element in another part of the province he never once tried to contact his grief stricken family. The woman's daughter had been watching the television news just the day before seeing Brigano doing the Perp Walk for the cameras. The girl, who had never met her uncle, excitedly told her mother that the arrestee looked just like an uncle she did know, Brigano's much younger brother. The family had believed Brigano dead all these years. They had mourned him, they had moved on with life. The matriarch of the family couldn't bear to visit her son, she was still in a state of shock. She was still in denial, all the more so because "Edwin Brigano" isn't his given name. It is a new identity assumed since joining the NPA.
To be continued...
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