NDFP NEGOTIATING PANEL REPLY TO THE CBCP-NASSA PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Luis T. Jalandoni
Chairperson
Negotiating Panel
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
April 19, 2004

As Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), I have been authorized by the NDFP National Executive Committee to issue a formal reply to questions raised in the CBCP-NASSA statement "NPA Taxation in the May 2004 elections" signed by a number of Catholic bishops and social action directors. The NDFP takes this opportunity to clarify fundamental principles guiding revolutionary taxation not only to the signatories of the statement but to all the people who have been misled to believe that the NPA's permission to electoral candidates and campaigners to enter the territory of the revolutionary government, conveniently referred to by some as "permit to campaign", is a form of extortion.

We state here no more than what we stated across the negotiating table concerning the same issue as it was brought up on April 1 by one member of the negotiating panel of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in the second round of formal talks in Oslo, Norway, from March 30 to April 3, 2004.

At the outset, we declare that the millions of people and revolutionary forces, including the New People's Army, that are all represented by the NDFP respect the inherent, inalienable and nonderogable right and freedom of conscience and freedom of expression of all individuals and groups, including all sorts of political parties and politicians now engaged in campaigns for the May 2004 elections of the reactionary state. These entities can express themselves as freely as they wish for whatever they stand for, with due consideration to the national and democratic rights of the people.

The revolutionary people and forces cannot stop the initiatives or approaches of various entities who offer mutual support and cooperation, take a stance of neutrality or opt to fight the revolutionary forces violently. They can only respond accordingly. It is too much of a presumption and a patently false notion that the revolutionary government and the mass movement can impose themselves by sheer force or threat of arms on others, including incumbent officials and aspirants for office in the reactionary government.

It is a fact that political leaders and candidates involved in the May 2004 elections have approached the revolutionary forces in order to explain their ideas and views, offer mutual support and cooperation and get security clearance for their campaign retinue.

Such political leaders and candidates are only doing so in the same way that the GRP does in negotiating with the NDFP on substantive and technical issues. Only a few foolhardy politicians disregard the mass base and armed strength of the revolutionary movement, declare war on these and heedlessly bring private armed groups and/or official armed units of the reactionary armed forces, police and paramilitary into the territory of the revolutionary government .

The permission or security clearance for entry into the territory of the revolutionary government is for the purpose of identifying the character of groups and individuals entering the territory of the revolutionary government and preventing the entry of enemy personnel that do harm to the people. It is mutually beneficial to the revolutionary forces and the candidates because it averts unnecessary clashes or mistakes.

The revolutionary government does not tax the freedom of expression, even as it may restrict (but does not violate) such freedom whenever counterrevolutionary vilIifiers enter its territory bringing armed personnel with them in order to slander and challenge the revolutionary forces. What the revolutionary government taxes is the privilege to engage in private economic enterprise that may be exploitative to some extent but is permissible and taxable because it is still necessary and beneficial to the people..

Under international law and the common law on armed conflict, it is the legitmate aspiration and striving of the revolutionary government and movement of the people to gain international recognition for the status of belligerency. This proceeds from the fact that the revolutionary government and movement have acquired the status of belligerency by dint of hard and arduous struggle. They have neither the need nor the intention to gain belligerency status through the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, much less from discussions and short-term agreements with individual politicians.

International recognition of such status will come from the victories of the NPA offensives and the spread of the power and territory of the people's government . As all men and women of good will and sufficient discernment know, the revolutionary forces and people represented by the NDFP, have rights and duties under international law , under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and under the constitution and laws of the revolutionary government..

With or without the NPA, big money is decisive in reactionary elections and it comes from the imperialists, the exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords and the bureaucrat capitalists who privatize tax money and public assets. The paid ad barks up the wrong tree and draws attention away from the oppressors and exploiters who decide the character, conduct and outcome of the elections. The NPA should not be made the scapegoat for the rottenness of the electoral system and the entire ruling system of the exploiting classes.

The statement jumps from one false presumption to another regarding the NPA and then makes the incredible conjecture that the reactionary elections are controlled by the NPA and not by the reactionary government. Should not the issuers of the statement in question consider fully that the May 2004 elections belong to the exploiting classes, the reactionary government and the corrupt politicians of the system who steal tax money and take money from their economic superiors and principals and that such elections are for conjuring the false illusion of democracy?

The responsibility for the exploitative, oppressive and corrupt character of the ruling system and its electoral processes cannot be passed on to the NPA and the revolutionary mass movement. No amount of lies can shift the blame to the NPA. As a matter of fact, the NPA has the mandate to arrest plunderers for investigation and if evidence warrants for prosecution and trial. This mandate comes from the constitution and laws of the revolutionary government and from the CARHRIHL.

The growth of the revolutionary army and all mass organizations fighting for social change stem from the fact that the ruling state of the big landlords, business elite and corrupt bureaucrats continue to oppress and exploit the people. Thus, the people recognize the revolutionary government as the government responsive to their demands. They participate in the revolutionary movement to struggle against their oppressors and exploiters and strive to realize and advance their national and democratic rights and interests. They are reliant on their own efforts and resources even as they welcome voluntary contributions and donations for social purposes like the churches do.

The allegation of extortion against the NPA is malicious, unfounded, unjust and unfair. Revolutionary taxes, voluntary contributions and donations if any are for the social purposes of the revolutionary government and movement. These are used for taking care of the needs of the people and for upholding and defending their national and democratic interests.

The original fabricators of the false charge that the NPA imposes tax on the freedom of expression and on electoral campaigns are military psywar experts, clerico-fascist elements posing as civil society advocates, social democrats, and anti-communist elements associated with the US intelligence in the Institute of Popular Democracy, and Akbayan. They capitalize on misquotations from some revolutionary leaders, whom they misrepresent as arrogant and caricature as trying to force political candidates to pay the so-called permit to campaign and subsequently exposing them in a breach of confidence.

The GRP is exceedingly active in attacking the revolutionary people and forces and even certain legal progressive parties and candidates. The psywar about the so-called PTC and the Red-baiting of the progressives are meant to justify violent attacks , escalate the already rampant human rights violations and reduce or eliminate the votes of the progressive parties and candidates.

So far, no candidate has come forward to declare that out of fear he/she had given money to the NPA. Only a few politicians whom the military use for psywar make false statements against the NPA. In the first place, these few are sworn enemies of the NPA.

The statement presumes that the NPA collects so much money from "PTC" for the purchase of firearms. In this regard, we point out that close to 100 per cent of NPA arms come from fighting. There are plenty of arms in the country because in the first place the Pentagon supplies them to the puppet army, police and paramilitary. And only subsequently does the NPA seize such arms by launching tactical offensives like ambushes and raids against the military, police and paramilitary forces.

A word about "civil society". It may be a fine expression. But nowadays it is no more than a fancy phrase selfishly appropriated by parasitic imperialist-funded NGOs to refer to themselves, to obscure the violent and brutal character of the reactionary state and to demand civility or good citizenship under such an uncivil brute force of the exploiting classes. After pretending to be a civil exponent of phoney social democracy, Norberto Gonzales emerges as no less a US-favored national security adviser of the puppet government.

NGO racketeers of so-called civil society are not asking questions about the so-called PTC but spreading their lies and false judgements. They hoodwink others into asking questions rhetorically and tendentiously. The big shots among these NGO racketeers and clerico-fascists are high government officials at present. Their extreme corruption is exposed by the Peace Bond scam running into 1.6 billlion pesos at the expense of the people and by the rechannelling of huge public funds and foreign "aid" to padded "socdem" NGO projects.

These scams and projects have enriched quite a number of NGO racketeers, among them some clerico-fascists. These detractors of the NPA and the entire revolutionary movement of the Filipino people have no right whatsoever to spread lies and slander and at the same time speak nothing about the billions of pesos that they have criminally accumulated

May I end by referring to the Second Oslo Joint Statement signed by the negotiating panels of the GRP and the NDFP on 3 April 2004. Its letter and spirit urges all those who seek a just and lasting peace in the Philippines and in the international community to support the efforts of both Parties to find in a principled way and in good faith solutions to immediate problems that impede the peace talks. It has set in motion the implementation of the CARHRIHL It embodies the commitment of both Parties to accelerate the negotiations on social and economic reforms. In this light, baseless and unjust accusations against the NDFP/NPA as "terrorist" and "extortionist" run counter to these positive developments in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.###

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