Two Statements
Statement on human rights claims Under Article 5, Part III of CARHRIHL

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

by Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
NDFP Negotiating Panel

From the statement of September 29, 1998

The only official document there is that binds the Government of the Republic of the Philippines to indemnify the victims of human rights violations under the Marcos regime is the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), particularly its Article 5, Part III.

If the GRP reneged on its obligation under this provision of the CARHRIHL, then the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations would certainly end completely and permanently.

It is outrageous and scandalous that, while the Marcoses and the biggest Marcos cronies are already recovering their ill-gotten wealth from sequestration, the Estrada regime is trying to play off the forty-percenting American vulture-lawyer (Robert Swift*) against SELDA in order to renege on a clear obligation of the GRP under CARHRIHL.

GRP violation of the CARHRIHL will be a further justification of the people�s war being carried out by the revolutionary forces. The people and the victims of human rights violations will find the greatest satisfaction in the retributive justice available from the people�s war.

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* Swift is an ex-lawyer of SELDA (Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya) who acted on his own to seek a done deal with the Marcoses regarding the indemnification of the victims of the fallen fascist dictatorship. He dreams of collecting as lawyer�s fee almost 40% of the entire amount to be awarded to the victims. He is currently lawyering for Claimants 1081, a grouplet playing itself off against SELDA and misrepresenting itself as a legitimate representative of the victims. It is in fact working to deny justice to the majority of the real victims of the Marcos dictatorship.

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10 December 1998
English Edition

	Editorial: Hold the GRP Accountable for its Obligations in the Human Rights Agreement
	CARHRIHL: Historic Document Born Out of the Filipino People�s Struggle for Human Rights
	The Tortuous Road of Peace Negotiations
	Defending the NDFP�s Revolutionary Integrity in the Peace Talks
	Two Statements Statement on human rights claims Under Article 5, Part III of CARHRIHL
	Two Statements Estrada will not fulfill his promise