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Friday, March 29, 2024

Arrest Joma if he comes home–Rody

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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte threatened to have his former professor, exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison, arrested should the latter decide to return home in the country.

This, after the communist leader, who was Duterte’s professor at the then Lyceum of the Philippines, accused the latter of “sabotaging” the peace talks between the government and the rebels, after he called him as the Philippines’ “No. 1 terrorist.”

“If Joma Sison comes here, I will arrest him. Or if I were him, he should not return anymore,” Duterte told fellow graduates of the San Beda College of Law during its annual homecoming celebration.

“Better still, I will not allow him to enter his native land and that is a very painful experience specially if you’re dying and you think you should be buried in your own cemetery, in your own town,” he added.

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Duterte reiterated that a ”coalition government” proposed by the communists were among the reasons he officially terminated the peace negotiations.

“I am looking at everything. It sums up like this: it looks like a coalition government. That’s what I said in a statement to the press: I cannot give you what I do not have,” Duterte said, adding it was a portion of a sovereignty which nobody can own except the Filipino people. 

In the same speech, Duterte also admitted he had sensed the grumblings of the military following his decision to temporarily release the communist consultants, including the leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon. 

He said he “conceded too much, too soon” when he allowed their release.

“I released them to show good faith and the confidence building period which is really very necessary in talking to them and to the enemies of the state… Now, how I would deal with them is something like this. I will treat them as terrorists. And I will charge them for the crimes that they actually committed,” Duterte said.

On Thursday, Duterte signed Proclamation No. 360 terminating the peace talks with the rebels, represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

He said the CPP and its armed wing, New People’s Army, failed to show sincerity and commitment in the negotiations.

Communist rebels have done “so much destruction” in the country, the President added. 

“There’s always a time to destroy and to repair. And they have done so much destruction to the country. Not only destroying the youth then, but even now,” Duterte said.

Sison, however, said Duterte was unprepared to handle the complexities of the affairs of government and the peace process with communist insurgents. 

Sison said the Cabinet and the military “should consider whether [Duterte] is mentally fit for his office or needs to be replaced in accordance with their 1987 Constitution.”

“In the course of his rants, Duterte unwittingly exposed his scarce, shallow and defective knowledge of the peace process,” Sison said. 

He said the President cited alleged recent incidents in the armed conflict which the latter allegedly used “as false basis for  slandering the revolutionary forces and threatening the termination of the peace negotiations and the outlawing of the revolutionary forces and legal democratic forces as terrorists.”

Sison also accused Duterte of “lying” when he said the NDF ignored the government proposal for a stand down agreement, prior to the adoption and implementation of the coordinated unilateral ceasefire. 

Following the government announcement of the termination of peace talks, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines late on Friday said they were now waiting for the written notice of termination.

The NDFP also said the front expected the government to comply with the protocol on termination—that is, the talks deemed terminated 30 days after receipt of the formal notice.

“We, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, hereby declare that we await receipt of the written notice of termination of the peace negotiations by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines as a consequence of the reported signing of Proclamation No. 360 by GRP President Duterte declaring such termination,” Fidel Agcaoili said.

It has been three times since Duterte suspended or terminated the talks, Agcaoili said. 

Agcaoili said that the NDF was expecting the government to “comply with this provision.”

“The GRP-NDFP peace negotiations are governed by agreements. We expect the written notice to be sent to us immediately now that Proclamation No. 360 has been published,” Agcaoili said.

They also reminded Duterte that “no one can rule a country in Mafia-style fashion where it becomes a personal turf and all forms of opposition are wiped out while the Army and police are transformed into enforcers and hit-men.”

Also on Friday, Commission on Human Rights Chairman Chito Gascon on Friday said the body would closely monitor rights violations that might be caused following his decision to terminate peace talks with the communist rebels.

“…there are cases of human rights violations that have been documented over the last 30, 40 years perpetrated by armed groups as well as armed forces,” Gascon said.

“If there will be an escalation of conflict, then necessarily we are concerned that there may also be an escalation of human rights violations so we will also have to monitor this very closely,” he added.

Gascon said the CHR supported the peace talks to minimize the effect of the conflict on civilians.

“We have always supported opportunities for political settlement of conflict so that people can focus on rebuilding their lives and asserting their rights in the context of armed struggle. Often it’s the people who are caught in the crossfire,” he added. 

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