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Friday, March 29, 2024

Reds expand list of arrest-proof men

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THE government on Tuesday acknowledged the reconstituted list of communist rebels protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, even as the negotiators from both parties agreed on three of five substantive issues, including a commitment to speed up forging a political settlement during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The NDF panel presented the reconstituted list of holders of the NDFP document of identification who will be immune from arrest to allow them to participate in the peace talks, and many years after the talks between the Aquino administration and the CPP-NDF collapsed in February 2011.

The Aquino administration had rejected the NDF’s proposal to draft a new Jasig list after the original one, which was stored in an old floppy diskette, got corrupted and could not be retrieved.

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The NDF leaders informed the government panel that the list would contain the names of 54 consultants who are classified as “publicly-known” and “assumed names” of 87 guerrilla leaders who are still underground, but are involved in the consultation for the peace process.

The government peace panel agreed to issue a letter acknowledging receipt of the NDFP list to prevent another collapse of the peace talks. 

“It was a frank and honest discussion among friends. We were candid with each other knowing that we share the common agenda of peace,” said Labor Secretary and government chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III.

“There were heated discussions at times, which are normal during negotiations. In fact, we had to call a break on several occasions to cool off. But the general atmosphere was cordial as the session was punctuated by laughter and light banter.” John Paolo Bencito

All the agreements signed during the peace negotiations from the time of President Corazon Aquino were reaffirmed, “subject to enhancements that may be mutually agreed upon later by both panels.”

“We may need these enhancements in the future as we do not want to be tied down by the rigidity of the past,” Bello said. 

“Learning from the mistakes of the previous negotiations, we want to explore all options to move the process fast.” 

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