Group accuses Deles of lying on peace deal with NDF

MANILA, Philippines - Rights group Karapatan on Monday accused Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles of lying when she said the Aquino administration will not close the peace negotiation with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said Deles should be reminded that it was government of the Philippines peace panel head Alex Padilla and the Aquino administration which first unilaterally declared the termination of the peace negotiations in April 2013.

"Deles is either suffering from amnesia or she has been simply lying all throughout when she said that the “GPH will not close the peace table” to those who wanted to pursue the peace negotiations between the GPH and the NDFP," Palabay said.

"Deles is passing the blame on the other party when from the very start the GPH has done everything to scuttle the talks and play it according to its interest, but never has it shown any respect for the previous peace agreements, nor has it been true to its commitments in the peace negotiations," she added.

Palabay cited that the government still continues to violate the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees.

Palabay said the alleged infractions resulted in 152 extrajudicial killings of activists and civilians, 600 illegal arrests, arrests and detention of peace consultants, and the highly irregular conviction of one of the consultants.

"The GPH is using the peace negotiations to pursue their counter-insurgency policy Oplan Bayanihan, which does not respect the rights of civilians and combatants.

"Through Oplan Bayanihan, they wanted to quell the insurgency through military and psywar tactics, including its posture during peace negotiations, but in fact they are blocking all roads towards respect for political and civil rights, economic and social reforms," Palabay said.