“Proclamation 360 is merely a unilateral announcement by GRP [Government of the Philippines] President Duterte of his decision to terminate the peace negotiations, on dubious grounds as it may be. Nothing more,” said the legal consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in a press statement issued on November 29.
The legal opinion was made after Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Sec. Jesus Dureza said in a media interview yesterday that Proclamation 360 was sufficient to terminate the peace talks, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees and possibly all other binding bilateral agreements he referred as “any accessory agreement.”
“Upon my query, the office of the executive secretary through Deputy Executive Secretary Atty. Meynard Guevarra has issued the opinion that Proclamation No. 360 signed by the President terminates with finality peace negotiations. Hence, any accessory agreement including the JASIG has no more basis to be effective. A presidential proclamation terminates all, the JASIG included. Hence, there is no need to issue a separate written notice of its termination,” said Dureza.
The legal consultants of the NDFP maintained that an agreement clearly and expressly provides the specific mode of procedure cannot be set aside and cannot be replaced with a unilateral claim made that it has been satisfied by mere implication.
“Otherwise, who in his right mind would want to deal with, much less negotiate or agree, with a party who invokes the rules when useful or favorable to it but ignores, abandons or violates them when they are not?” said in the statement.
The statement said that the termination would be effective if it adheres to the provisions of the JASIG signed by the GRP and NDFP in 1995.
For the NDFP, what remains to be done by the GRP to terminate the negotiations is still a two-step process: one, the GRP must send a written notice to the appropriate entity of the NDFP and two, upon receipt and corresponding acknowledgment that it is in order, the termination shall technically be deemed effective only after 30 days from such receipt.
They said this is in fact to the mutual interest of both Parties, “in anticipation of situations as in today.”
“Without the proper procedure mutually agreed upon for the effective termination of the peace negotiations being observed, one party cannot simply renege on its commitments, dishonor its own signature, and throw away all agreements that should be honored. Agreements must be complied with in good faith,” the statement said.
With this, the NDFP considers the peace negotiations not terminated, but they await for the written notice of termination should it come.
In the aftermath of Duterte’s pronouncements of talks cancellation, Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison said the NDFP is still open to peace talks with the government. Duterte has yet to comment or reply to this.
Previous cancellation
Dureza sent a letter to the NDFP on the talks cancellation in February that the latter did not find sufficient in form.
“We note that the letter of termination of the JASIG sent by Sec. Dureza is improperly addressed. It should have been sent to the National Executive Committee of the NDFP through its Negotiating Panel, and not jointly in one letter to Prof. Sison as Chief Political Consultant and me as Chairperson of the Negotiating Panel. The NDFP Negotiating Panel and its consultants draw their authority from the National Executive Committee of the NDFP based in the country. The original of the letter should also be sent by mail or courier to the NDFP Information Office in The Netherlands to be formally received by the NDFP Negotiating Panel,” said NDFP Negotiating Panel Chair Fidel Agcaoili.
This argument then was only in addition to Agcaoili’s position at that time that there was no fair and just reason for the GRP to terminate the JASIG and the peace negotiations after the successful third round of talks that saw progress in the discussion on social and economic reforms. Mainly, the two parties agreed in principle to the free distribution of land to farmers and farm workers.
NDFP Legal Consultant Atty. Edre Olalia said in an interview with Manila Today that this previous effort of Dureza and of the recent Proclamation 360 was due that the GRP wants to subsume and subject the JASIG to the GRP legal and judicial system.
Bilateral agreements binding
For the proclamation to cover the effectiveness of all validly signed bilateral binding agreements between the GRP and NDFP since the peace negotiations began is a stretch, the statement also said.
Olalia said that the termination of peace negotiations pertains only to rounds of talks to be held with the sitting administration, but does not invalidate the bilateral agreements signed in the last 30 years.
Olalia also noted that these agreements have also been previously acknowledged and recognized by Dureza and the GRP Negotiating Panel headed by Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello in the informal and formal talks by way of the signed statements at the end of each round of talks.
The Utrecht Joint Statement signed by the GRP and NDFP following their informal talks stated its first point as:
“The Parties shall continue the formal peace talks and reiterate their reaffirmation of all bilateral agreements and statements made in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, including The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).”
The document was signed on March 11 of this year. The informal talks was held after the first time Duterte talked in February of cancelling the talks since it resumed when he won the presidency.
Previous joint statements in the first round of talks in August 2016, third round of talks in January and fourth round of talks in April this year also stated reaffirmation of all bilateral agreements and statements.
Olalia also said that the progress of the negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms would not be a casualty to the possible termination of peace negotiations in Duterte’s term, as they would pursue to continue the negotiations where it left off.
No written notice, just announcement
Proclamation 360 was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on November 23.
The proclamation averred that “in spite of the best efforts exerted by this administration, the NDFP-CPP-NPA failed to show their sincerity and commitment in pursuing genuine and meaningful peaceful negotiations as it engaged in acts of violence and hostilities, endangering the lives and properties of innocent people.”
The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) made the announcement on its website that Proclamation 360 was signed.
“The President, as we all know, has always wanted to leave a legacy of peace under his administration. He has, in fact, walked the extra mile for peace. Rest assured that he will continuously pray that we may all find the peace that we seek for our beloved country in the fullness of God’s time,” said the PCOO announcement in addition to the gist of the document.
Days before the second schedule of the fifth round of talks on November 25 to 27, Duterte declared that he was terminating the peace talks, declaring the revolutionary movement as terrorists, rearresting peace consultants freed on bail and mounting a crackdown on activist groups that the president tagged as ‘legal fronts’ of the revolutionary movement.
