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THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES CONDEMNS THE MACAPAGAL-ARROYO REGIME FOR SUPPORTING THE US INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ AND SENDING TROOPS AND CONTRACT WORKERS TO IRAQ

Luis T. Jalandoni
Chairperson
Negotiating Panel
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
July 11, 2004

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) vigorously condemns the Macapagal-Arroyo policy of supporting the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and sending Filipino soldiers and so-called security contractors and more than 4,000 workers to assist the US aggressors and their Iraqi puppets.

GRP President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo must immediately terminate its shameless policy in order to make possible the saving of the life of Angelo de la Cruz. Her regime must cease to denigrate and attack the national sovereignty of the Filipino people. It must immediately order the return of Filipino troops and the contract workers sent to Iraq in utter subservience to US imperialism.

The Macapagal Arroyo regime is accountable to the Filipino people for jeopardizing the lives and safety of Filipino migrant workers. President Arroyo must cease to violate the foundation document of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, namely The Hague Joint Declaration, that firmly establishes that the principle of national sovereignty is a guiding principle of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

Her servility to US President Bush, expressed in her total submission to the US unjust and illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by sending a contingent of Filipino troops to assist the illegal US occupiers of Iraq, is a flagrant violation of the principle of national sovereignty of the Filipino people. It has caused direct danger to the lives of Angelo de la Cruz and millions of other migrant workers.

President Arroyo is obliged to do what is necessary to protect and save the life of Angelo de la Cruz and other migrant workers by provisions of the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). Part III on Human Rights of CARHRIHL, Article 10, stipulates: "The Parties [the GRP and the NDFP] shall promote the basic collective and individual rights of workers, peasants, fisherfolk, urban poor, migrant workers, ethnic minorities, women, youth, children and the rest of the people and shall take concrete steps to stop and prevent the violation of human rights, �" Likewise, Article 11 of CARHRIHL Part III states: "The GRP shall respect �the rights of migrant workers abroad in accordance with the International Covenant on the Rights of Migrant Workers and the Members of their Families."

President Arroyo must act NOW to comply with the GRP's solemn obligation to defend the lives and rights of Filipino migrant workers. Her wanton contempt for national sovereignty of the Filipino people, in addition to the GRP's noncompliance of its obligations according to peace agreements signed with the NDFP, including the First and Second Oslo Joint Statements, will certainly seriously jeopardize the continuation of GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.