NDFP adopts program to protect children during armed conflict in the Philippines (tags)
Aside from coming out with its program of action for the protection of children, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines announced that it will establish a Special Office for the Protection of Children to strengthen its mechanisms on monitoring and defending the rights of Filipino children.
AFP VIOLATES OWN CEASEFIRE DURING PEACE TALKS (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN, the news service of PESANTE-USA bassed in the United States reported today that the Armed Force of the Philippines (AFP) is violating the mutually-declared ceasefire which began on 15 February 2011 and will end on 21 February 2011 by conducting military operations in the guise of “civil-military operations” (CMO), “Peace and Development Teams” (PDTs) or “Community Organizer for Peace and Development” (COPD) in many barangays in all provinces of Mindanao. According to Jorge MAdlos of the NDF-Mindanao, fully-armed AFP-PNP-CAFGU units enter barrios or communities in platoon or company formations under the guise of promoting “peace and development” in a desperate attempt to “win over” the people through deceit and intimidation, taking advantage of the NPA reciprocal ceasefire. They break into two groups, whereby one takes charge of psy-war operations in barrio or community centers, while another does the security clearing operations.
NDF-GRP Panels Held Preliminary Talks in Norway:Talks to Resume in February (tags)
The ALLIANCE NEWS, the news service of the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States reported today that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panels held preliminary talks last 14-18 January 2011 in Oslo, Norway and agreed to resume formal peace talks. Formal talks could not be held for six years during the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because of the latter’s conspiracy with the US to put the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison on the US terrorist list and its refusal to resolve the socio-economic roots of the armed conflict.
An Open Letter to the People in Response to an 8th ID ruse (tags)
A group with the pornographic name of SABIK (Samahan ng mga Biktima ng Komunista) recently issued a press statement assailing the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas over a "child rebel" issue. The NDF-EV believes that the 8th Infantry Division is behind this group, since legal and moral predicaments hinder the military from exploiting the child, whom it claims to have recently rescued from the New People's Army. In these interesting times, it is important for the revolutionary movement and the democratic mass movement to answer such fascist and anti-democratic groups as SABIK (for publicity, we presume).
Philippine Human Rights Group Stands by Concerns (tags)
On this supposed “independence day” of the Philippines, the Philippine Human Rights Watch delegation in attendance at the UN Human Rights Council 8th Session confirms its support to the joint statement delivered by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) during the “interactive dialogue” yesterday on the consideration of the report of the Working Group on the Netherlands Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Statement of Prof. Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the UN-Human Rights Council (tags)
Professor Phillip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions in the Philippines
NDFP Negotiating Panel Arrives In Oslo For Consultations With Norwegian Government (tags)
The NDFP Negotiating Panel has the concept of continuing to prepare drafts of agreements on social, economic and political reforms and testing them in working sessions and open forums with respected Filipino experts and GRP officials who belong to the regime and the opposition. Thus, a level of consensus shall be reached even before the resumption of the formal talks, and thus accelerating the progress of future negotiations.
Statement of the all-women US lawyers' legal mission, (tags)
Pesante-USA printed the statement of the all-women US lawyers legal mission to the Philippines from the Gabriela website. This is to inform the US public of the human rights situation in the Philippines. We, the all-women US lawyers' legal mission, came to the Philippines in response to growing international concern over the extrajudicial killings and political persecution of women's rights activists, political leaders, members of the opposition and the Batasan 6. Our presence in the Philippines is an affirmation of international sisterhood and the imperative for women to help each other amid worldwide growing repression and political persecution. In this country, such deliberate constriction of public space for women is symbolized by the persecution of women's organizations and their leaders, such as GABRIELA and Gabriela Women's Party, and Congresswoman Liza Maza, the representative of the women's sector in Congress.