GRP obliged to undo its part of the wrong in the "terrorist" tag--CPP
February 13, 2004

The Communist Party of the Philippines said that the Arroyo regime is absolutely obliged to undo the wrong it had done when it determinedly lobbied and campaigned for the US and European Union's "Foreign Terrorist Organization" tag on the CPP, the New People's Army (NPA) and Senior National Democratic Front Peace Consultant Jose Ma. Sison.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said that the Arroyo regime cannot feign innocence and pass the blame on to the US and EU for its own active and persistent role in the inclusion of the CPP-NPA and Sison in the US and EU FTO listing. Rosal explained that it was Arroyo herself who personally brought up the matter before US State Secretary Colin Powell in the latter's August 3, 2002 visit to the Philippines and that Powell acted on the Arroyo proposal and made the declaration within six days after his visit. Rosal added that Arroyo later sent Foreign Secretary Blas Ople to aggressively conduct the same campaign among the EU countries.

Rosal said that the Arroyo regime cannot evade responsibility for the stupid concoction about the CPP-NPA and Sison being terrorists. Worse, it is utterly disgusting for the Arroyo regime to dishonestly now try to shift the burden of proof on the CPP-NPA by obliging it to show "legal and moral proof" that it does not deserve the label. The CPP-NPA-NDF does not need to show any more proof than its strict adherence to revolutionary and pro-people principles and practice and its wide and ever growing mass base. "In fact, it is the government forces that engage in terroristic attacks against the people."

The CPP spokesperson said that the GRP still has to make an official statement retracting its own terrorist tag on the CPP-NPA and at the same time make an explicit and unequivocal demand upon the governments of the US, Canada and the EU to actually remove the CPP-NPA and Sison from their FTO listings.

Rosal said Malaca�ang countermanded the GRP panel's agreement with the NDF panel to sign a joint statement that the US and EU's inclusion of the CPP-NPA and Sison in their FTO listings constitute an infringement of national sovereignty and a violation of a previously signed agreement on human rights and international humanitarian laws as well as of the landmark Supreme Court doctrine on the Amado V. Hernandez case.

Rosal revealed that in a seven-hour phone call during a supposed 30-minute break requested by the GRP panel, "Malaca�ang directly instructed the GRP panel to veer away from the FTO issue and shift the topic to such preposterous and insulting demands such as an end to the CPP-NPA's Permit To Campaign (PTC) policy, a halt to armed attacks by the NPA and the surrender of NPA forces and firearms?all of which are out of the question and are extraneous to the peace talks."

Rosal added that the GRP panel admitted to the NDF panel that President Arroyo is reserving final decision on the FTO issue after she has made sure that the government has gotten sufficient advantages in the current round of peace talks. "This is nothing but blackmail," Rosal said.

"The regime's adamance against undoing the folly of its own making only reveals its utter subservience to US imperialism, the domininant militarist influence within it and its sheer shortsighted and hollow stubborness."

"Either the Arroyo regime wants peace talks or not. That is the question that crucially hangs on the FTO question," Rosal said. "It appears that Arroyo simply wants to use it for her electoral campaign and is not interested at all in resolving the immediate and long-term issues involved to finally attain peace."

Rosal said, however, that if the GRP has no intentions of reneging on the provisions of the joint declaration on the resumption of formal peace talks signed last month by the NDF and GRP panels, it has to abide by such provisions, which included the need to resolve the inconsistency of the "terrorist" listing with all previous NDF-GRP agreements as well as with the national sovereignty and the principled revolutionary and pro-people character of the CPP-NPA.

Rosal added that while peace talks may still proceed with the work of subcommittees on other important issues such as the Joint Monitoring Committee and the Reciprocal Working Committee of Social and Economic Reforms, the CPP-NPA-NPA demands an immediate affirmative response from the Arroyo regime in regard to the FTO question.

Rosal reiterated NDF peace panel chair Luis Jalandoni's statement that if the Arroyo regime remains totally adamant against undoing its wrong on the issue, the CPP-NPA-NDF would be inclined to wait after the May elections for a new government that would probably be better able to continue the talks.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553

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GRP obliged to undo its part of the wrong in the "terrorist" tag--CPP February 13, 2004

GRP obliged to undo its part of the wrong in the "terrorist" tag--CPP
February 13, 2004