POWELL SHOWS ARROGANCE AND IGNORANCE IN DESIGNATING CPP/NPA AS TERRORIST

Luis T. Jalandoni
Chairperson
Negotiating Panel
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
August 12, 2002

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in designating the CPP/NPA as a foreign terrorist organization, shows his extreme arrogance and utter ignorance.

His attention must be called to the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which stipulates: "In the exercise of their inherent rights, the Parties shall adhere to and be bound by the principles and standards embodied in international instruments on human rights" (Part III, Art. 1) and "in the exercise of their inherent rights, the Parties to the armed conflict shall adhere and be bound by the generally accepted principles and standards of international humanitarian law." (Part IV, Art. 1). The Macapagal-Arroyo regime bound itself to the CARHRIHL and nine other agreements on 27 March 2001, just as the NDFP did on the same day. The CARHRIHL was signed and approved in 1998.

Mr. Powell should also be informed that the NDFP issued its Declaration of Undertaking to Apply the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Protocol I of 1977 on 5 July 1996 and deposited this with the Swiss Federal Council as official depositary and sent the same to the International Committee of the Red Cross as official guardian of the Geneva Conventions and Protocols. The above-stated Declaration was submitted by the NDFP on behalf of all allied revolutionary organizations in the NDFP, including the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People's Army (NPA).

Mr. Powell should be made aware of the CPP's Guide for Establishing the People's Democratic Government that guarantees the fundamental rights of citizens, including the freedom of speech, association and assembly, the right to work and free public education. It specifically states: "Freedom of the person of citizens is inviolable. No citizen may be arrested without sufficient legal basis." (Part III: Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens). It further stipulates: "The people's court shall require specification of charges and sufficient investigation of the case prior to trial and shall always inquire into the side of the complainant as well as the accused. The opposite sides of any case shall be given ample hearing and shall be entitled to counsel as well as the presentation of witnesses and evidence." (Part II: System of Government, Chapter III: The People's Court, Art. 3)

Mr. Powell is apparently also ignorant of the Basic Rules of the New People's Army which stipulates that "all officers and men are prohibited from committing the slightest damage against the interest of the masses and they are always subject to the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points of Attention," among which is the requirement: do not be cruel to captives.

The longstanding practice of the NPA proves its adherence to the above-stated high standards of human rights and international humanitarian law. The testimony of Gen. Victor Obillo and other prisoners of war taken into custody and later released on humanitarian grounds by the NPA confirms the NPA's adherence to the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, the CARHRIHL, and the above-stated CPP and NPA documents.

Mr. Powell violates the integrity of the NDFP and all its allied organizations, including the CPP and the NPA.

It is an act of extreme arrogance and condemnable intervention in Philippine internal affairs for Mr. Powell to ignore the CARHRIHL and other bilateral agreements between the GRP and the NDFP. His irresponsible act seriously jeopardizes the peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP.

The NDFP is taking up this matter with some lawyers in the United States in order to legally challenge this unilateral act of US imperialist intervention. Moreover, the NDFP calls on the American people to vigorously oppose repressive laws that the US is trying to internationalize and the growing US military intervention in the Philippines. This bears the danger of escalating into another war of aggression similar to the US war of aggression against Vietnam. #

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