US has no sovereign right to interfere in Philippine affairs and put NDFP under duress in GRP-NDFP peace negotiations

Prof. Jose Ma. Sison
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Chief Political Consultant
August 15, 2004

Contrary to what officials of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime say, the US has no sovereign right to intervene in Philippine affairs and put the negotiating panel and consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) under duress in peace negotiations.

In acting as if they had such right, the US imperialists like George W. Bush, Colin Powell and the proconsul Francis Ricciardone merely succeed in sabotaging the peace negotiations.

The incorrigible puppets in the Macapagal-Arroyo regime welcome the US interference. But the NDFP would rather postpone the negotiations indefinitely than submit itself to any imperialist pressure.

If the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) were at all interested in the continuity of the peace negotiations, it should have at the least criticized the US renewal of the US "terrorist" listing as a gross violation of the following GRP-NDFP joint agreements:

1. The Hague Joint Declaration which upholds the principle of national sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Filipino people over events that transpire in the Philippines;
2. The Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees which protects all negotiators, consultants and other persons duly authorized to participate in the work of the peace negotiations; and
3. The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law which guarantees the fundamental rights of all Filipinos and upholds the Hernandez political offense doctrine.

The GRP has neither self-respect nor shame for proclaiming in effect the sovereign right of the US to trample on the national sovereignty of the Filipino people and interfere in the internal affairs of the Philippines.

Against the extraterritorial arrogance of the US and European imperialists and the puppetry of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime, the Filipino people and the revolutionary forces have the sovereign right and duty to intensify their revolutionary struggle for national liberation and democracy.

They must exert all efforts to reclaim the natural and social wealth robbed from them by foreign monopolies. They must stop the US, British and Dutch imperialists from plundering the Malampaya and Camago oil and gas resources.

They must thwart every attempt of the imperialists and puppets to use the "terrorist" listing to force the capitulation or outright destruction of the revolutionary forces and people represented by the NDFP.

They can have just and lasting peace only by waging a resolute and militant revolutionary struggle to achieve national independence, democracy, social justice and development against the imperialists and the local exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords. ###

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