Coalition calls for genuine effort to re-engage for a just peace
Press Statement
February 14
“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) condemns the Marcos Jr. administration for crudely negating the 2023 initiative for the resumption of peace talks between his government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP),” said ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy today.
“The apparent opening announced in the Oslo Joint Statement on November 23, 2023, is being wrecked by Marcos Jr. Back-channel talks through 2024 have failed to get the formal talks re-started because of the government’s actions. The international community should hold Marcos Jr. to account for this, press him to change course from bad faith to good faith, to go back to the negotiations to conclude the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), and to proceed with the agenda agreed in the Hague Joint Declaration way back in 1992,” Murphy said.
“As a practical step and a confidence-building measure, the Marcos Jr. government should immediately lift its designation of the NDFP as a terrorist organization,” said Murphy. “This June 2021 designation by the Anti-Terrorism Council has no judicial support, blocks the peace talks, and enables sweeping anti-terrorism finance charges against many community-based non-profit organizations,” said Murphy.
National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano, and Assistant Director General of the National Security Council Jonathan Malaya, have opposed the peace talks and continue to justify the violent attacks by government security forces on unarmed NDFP peace consultants and negotiators, and more broadly to commit war crimes against the population.
During 2024 government forces killed NDFP peace consultants Ariel Arbitrario and Concha Araneta-Bocala, and arrested consultant for the Cordilleras Simeon Naogsan, consultant for Southern Mindanao Porferio Tuna, consultant for Southern Tagalog Wigberto Villarico and consultant for Panay Island Tomas Dominado. In August 2022, under Marcos Jr., NDFP peace panel member Benito Tiamzon and consultant Wilma Austria were brutally murdered. After the formal talks were cancelled by Duterte in November 2017, peace consultants Randy Malayao (2019), Julius Giron (2020), Randall Echanis (2020), Eugenia Magpantay and her husband Agaton Topacio (2020), Antonio Cabanatan and Florenda Yap (2021), Jorge Madlos (2021), Rustico Tan (2021), Reynaldo Bocala (2021), Menandro Villanueva (2022), Ericson Acosta and Pedro Codaste (2022), and Rogelio Posadas (2023) were killed.
None of the peace consultants illegally arrested under Duterte have been released – Vicente Ladlad, Adelberto Silva, Loida Magpatoc, Renante Gamara and Frank Fernandez.
All of these people should have been protected by the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) and under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which are formal commitments of the Philippine government.
“The Marcos Jr administration committed to pursue peace in November 2023, but in reality imprisons or kills the people working to achieve a just and lasting peace,” said Murphy.
“With the open conflict between President Marcos Jr. and his Vice President, Sara Duterte, now leading to an impeachment trial, the international community should acknowledge the lawless reality behind the facade of democracy in the Philippines, withhold all military aid, and insist on the upholding of the human rights of the people. The peace talks with the NDFP are an alternative pathway, and should be retrieved from the Marcos freezer,” Murphy concluded.
