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GRP�s distortion of Oslo Joint Statement aggravates �terrorist� listing issue and sets back formal peace talks

Negotiating Panel
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
March 29, 2004

Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel

The GRP�s �clarificatory� statements on the �terrorist� listing of the CPP-NPA and Prof. Jose Ma. Sison have distorted the spirit and letter of the Oslo Joint Statement, setting back the formal talks and raising a major impediment in the next round to be held March 30- April 2 in Oslo, Norway.

The GRP statements, coming on the heels of the signing of the Oslo Joint Statement have aggravated rather than resolved the �terrorist� listing issue. It is clear to both parties that this is a prejudicial question which must be addressed and satisfactorily resolved before proceeding with the formal discussions on the substantive agenda such as the implementation of the CARHRIHL and the negotiations on social and economic reforms.

Item 3. Effective Measures Regarding the �Terrorist� Listing, of the Oslo Joint Statement which was the outcome of the resumption of formal talks last February states:

To resolve the outstanding issue of the �terrorist� listing of the CPP/NPA and the NDFP Chief Political Consultant, effective measures shall be undertaken in consonance with the Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), and other bilateral agreements. The panelists, consultants, staffers and other duly authorized participants of said negotiations shall thereby be fully protected by the pertinent provisions of the Hague Joint Declaration, the JASIG and the CAR-HR/IHL as well as the Amado V. Hernandez doctrine on political offense.

The GRP and the NDFP shall, jointly and separately, call upon the Government of the United States, the Council of the European Union and other concerned foreign states and governments, to support the efforts of the parties in resolving the outstanding issue of the �terrorist� listing of the CPP/NPA and the NDFP Chief Political Consultant in order to advance and promote the peace negotiations and address the root causes of the armed conflict.

In signing the Oslo Joint Statement, the GRP has implicitly or tacitly renounced its collaboration with the US in the "terrorist" listing and has explicitly agreed to undertake effective measures to rectify the violation of mutually agreed upon principles in The Hague Joint Declaration and other bilateral agreements such as national sovereignty, respect for the organizational integrity and status under international status of the negotiating parties, and protection of the forces and personnel of both parties from blackmail and harassment, and negotiating in good faith, with the NDFP as the aggrieved party.

The NDFP had clearly stated in its opening statement on November 21, 2003 that �the two parties should agree to jointly and separately undertake appropriate diplomatic and political actions and legal remedies to rectify the aforecited violations to the satisfaction of the aggrieved parties (CPP, NPA and NDFP Chief Political Consultant) and thereby pave the way for the resumption of formal talks.

However, in their arrival and �clarificatory� statements the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Sec. Deles, and the GRP Negotiating Panel asserted that �the inclusion of the CPP-NPA and Prof. Jose Ma. Sison in foreign terror lists were sovereign acts of (the US, Council of the European Union, and other foreign states and governments) independent of the GRP disposition regarding these matters�. Thus, the GRP cannot tell the US, EU and other foreign governments to remove the CPP, NPA and Prof. Sison from their �terrorist� lists.

On the contrary, the Oslo Joint Statement requires the GRP to first acknowledge its own culpability in welcoming the US listing and in actively campaigning for the inclusion of the CPP, NDF, NPA and Prof. Sison in the �terrorist� listing of the Council of the European Union. Instead, the OPAPP and the GRP Panel continue to gloss over, deny and cover up these violations, all of which were previously admitted by high-ranking GRP officials, including statements made under oath before Congressional hearings, and announced in Malacanang and DFA press releases.

The GRP further commits a gross distortion and misrepresentation of the Oslo Joint Statement in asserting that effective measures �include the action of the CPP-NPA to disavow offensives and assaults against civilians and to undertake efforts to mitigate the violent conflict� and �to desist from acts considered as terrorist by the international community�.

As pointed out by UN ad litem Judge Romeo T. Capulong, Senior Legal Consultant of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, in a legal opinion issued 15 March 2004 and subsequently adopted by the NDFP Negotiating Panel, the records will clearly show that while certain members of the GRP Panel and delegation did attempt to introduce a draft containing these points, �The NDFP outrightly rejected this draft and declared it totally unacceptable. The GRP unilaterally withdrew this draft even before it could be formally presented for discussion by the panels in the negotiating table.

Judge Capulong concludes his well substantiated paper:

"There is absolutely nothing in the records of the deliberations of the parties on the "terrorist" listings that would support or reflect the "clarificatory" statement of the GRP. For this reason, such statement is an ultra vires act that runs counter to what has been agreed upon which, if given effect, will result in the non-fulfillment of the joint and separate obligation of the parties under item 3 of the Oslo Joint Statement. Worse, such "clarificatory" statement has put the GRP panel's authority as well as the GRP's integrity as a party to the peace negotiations under the current dispensation in serious question."