COMMUNIST rebels in Baguio City rejected calls by the military for a localized peace talk.
Army's 401st Infantry Brigade commander Col. Eliseo Posadas promised to guarantee the safety of Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front (CPDF) leaders and members who will sit down to discuss peace.
But the rebels in the highlands rejected the proposal saying a national negotiation is ongoing. The group added that the promise of Posadas was pure “empty talk”.
Simon Naogsan, a former government engineer known as Ka Filiw in the underground movement, said the AFP’s push for local peace talks is just another deceptive public relations gimmick and psychological-war tactic.
Naogsan insists there are peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and there is no need for localized talks.
He also believes several agreements such as the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) are already in place, which must be followed to the letter by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“Both parties have signed the Hague Joint Declaration which spells out the principles, framework and sequence of substantive agendas to be tackled during the peace talks. These agreements and declarations are [still] legal and binding,” Naogsan said.
Naogsan claimed “if the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police (PNP) can easily arrest, incarcerate, forcibly disappear, and kill NDFP consultants covered by the JASIG, then it would be easier for them to disregard the personal guarantee issued by a mere field-grade officer.”
Earlier, the CPDF called on government to release NDF consultant Jovencio Balweg, nabbed by state security forces last year in Baguio City and is being kept in Camp Crame in Quezon City. He is facing murder and several other criminal cases in an Abra court.
Naogsan also accused the military of double talk. “While it calls for local peace talks, it deploys additional combat troops in Mountain Province,” the rebel leader said. (Ma. Elena Catajan)