Newsbreak: Left rejects ceasefire proposal

Leftist leaders rejected on Monday the proposal of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. for a bilateral ceasefire as a precondition for the resumption of peace talks between the government and the communist movement. Esperon announced the proposal on the first day of the National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances organized by the Supreme Court. Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, who attended the summit, said Esperon’s proposal violates the joint declaration signed by the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) in the Netherlands that there should be no precondition for the resumption of the talks. The on-again, off-again peace negotiations broke down after the US government tagged the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as terrorist organizations. The NDF is the umbrella of all political organizations under the NDF, while the NPA is the party's armed component. Bayan Muna, a legitimate organization, is a suspected front of the CPP-NDF. Esperon told reporters after his speech that he has proposed the ceasefire to President Arroyo, who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces. “It’s up to the other side" to consider it, he said. Ocampo dropped hints that Esperon made the proposal as a matter of tactic. On the summit’s first day, the military and leftist and human rights groups traded accusations on who’s responsible for the extrajudicial killings in the country. It’s a historic event, nonetheless. Eduardo Garcia, former member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the present Constitution, told Newsbreak that “this is the first time in history that the judiciary has taken a lead role" in pursuing the issue of extrajudicial killings. “It’s also the first time that opposing groups from the Left to the military are gathered in one summit." The Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) and the human rights group Karapatan drew first blood as they accused the military of being behind the extrajudicial killings and abductions of labor and peasant leaders, journalists, religious leaders, and leftist sympathizers in the past few years. Nida Sevilla, chair of FIND, said the military has conveniently labeled government critics, left-leaning leaders, human right advocates along with rebels and terrorists as “enemies of the State" to justify the extra-legal executions that have been on the rise since President Arroyo assumed office in 2001. Karapatan chair Edelina dela Paz said these executions were meant to stifle dissent and silence the opposition. Karapatan has documented 863 incidences of extrajudicial killings and abductions since 2001, with most incidents occurring in Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, and Bicol. Covering the same period, the Commission on Human Rights has recorded 403 cases, while the National Police’s Task Force Usig has reported 115 cases. As De la Paz was bashing the military, Esperon entered the summit venue with his aides. When it was his turn to speak, the chief of staff declared: “I must reiterate that the AFP will not deliberately engage in such activities." Esperon said the allegation that the military was behind the killings was part of efforts “to demonize" the Armed Forces. He belittled Karapatan’s documentation, saying its figures include four alleged victims who turned out to be alive as well as members of the Abu Sayyaf group. At least 25 of these cases can be attributed to the NPA, he said. Meanwhile, rights groups pushed for the enactment of a law that will criminalize state-perpetrated enforced disappearances of activists. Sevilla, sister of labor and human rights lawyer Hermon Lagman who remains missing up to now, said that at present, there is no law penalizing “enforced disappearances," which the United Nations defines as state-enforced, with the aim of concealing the whereabouts of a person perceived to be an enemy of the state. Sevilla noted that House Bill 326, or the proposed “Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2007," has been languishing at the House of Representatives. The proposed bill follows the UN’s definition of involuntary disappearances limiting the direct and indirect commission of the crime to State authorities. It considers disappearance as a continuing offense as long as the fate and whereabouts of the person has not been determined with certainty. It mandates the expeditious disposition of a habeas corpus proceeding and immediate compliance with any release order by virtue of such proceeding. - Newsbreak