Pursue Peace Process in the Philippines

“Stand Firm! Persevere! Proclaim the Gospel of Peace!”

Statement of the 2nd Ecumenical Church Leaders’ Summit on the GPH-NDFP Peace Negotiations
Betania Retreat House, Lahug, Cebu City
February 6-8, 2012

“This is what Yahweh asks of you, only this: that you act justly, that you love tenderly, that you walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

We are Church leaders from five major religious federations*. We came together to reflect and discuss the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). We listened to updates from both sides regarding the current status of the negotiations. There are positive prospects that bolster our hopes for the talks to continue but there are certain issues brought out that may hinder the process of the said talks.

One such issue, which is at the crux of the recent impasse, concerns the detained consultants of the NDFP that they claim are covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). The NDFP called for a postponement of the talks last June 2011 to give time for the GPH to release the consultants. While the GPH already released some consultants, the NDFP is demanding that the GPH honor the February 21, 2011 Joint Statement by releasing most if not all consultants covered by the JASIG. The GPH recently stated that until the reciprocal working committees on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) shall have completed the common tentative agreement on social and economic reforms, the talks may not resume. They also stated that there will be no formal talks on issues concerning the JASIG. This in turn was seen by the NDFP as a move to scuttle the negotiations. We deeply understand the concerns of both parties.

To affirm our commitment in support of the formal peace talks and to break the current impasse, we call on the government to release in recognizance under the collective custodial guarantee of the member churches of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform, the NDFP consultants who are willing to be under the sanctuary of churches. This is our way of proclaiming the gospel of peace. We call on the GPH and the NDFP to consider this offer. As Church people, we recognize that the road to a just and lasting peace is complex. But we persevere because we are certain that nothing is impossible with God and especially if we take the interests of the people at heart. We believe that there are times when we need to dare and innovate, seize the Kairos moment, so that the formal talks may continue.

We pray that this offer from us will pave the way for both parties to continue to work on the mutually agreed principles or framework upon which the peace negotiations are built. We are earnestly looking forward to the next substantive agenda, the CASER, so that the fundamental issues that bring about unpeace will be addressed.

We affirm our prophetic voices for peace and take to heart our people’s longing for the elusive peace that will create the conditions for an equitable and sustainable development of our country and people.

We fervently ask you all to join us in prayers and solidarity in this quest for a future worthy of our children.

February 8, 2012

For the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform:

ARCHBISHOP Antonio J. Ledesam, S.J., DD
Co-chairperson


Ms. Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes
Co-chairperson


MOST REV. Deogracias S. Iñiguez, Jr., DD
Head of Secretariat

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*Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) and the Ecumenical Bishops' Forum (EBF).

U.S. Out of the Philippines! U.S. Out of Asia-Pacific!

Aquino Aligns with U.S. Military Build-Up in Asia-Pacific, a Threat to Peace in the Region

BAYAN USA
February 1, 2012

Filipino-Americans across the U.S., under the banner of BAYAN USA, express condemnation and disgust over the efforts of Philippine President Benigno Simeon "Noy-Noy" Aquino III to accommodate the "new" U.S. defense strategy that entails a so-called "rebalance to Asia", including an increase in U.S. military presence in the Philippines. BAYAN USA also denounces the U.S. government's Cold War-style media offensive against economic rival China as a pretext to justify its gross expansion of U.S. military powers in the Asia-Pacific in order to increase U.S. economic, political, and military investments in the region.

Economically-Motivated
Under neoliberalism, the U.S. economy is largely dependent on the Pacific Rim, particularly because of its export position. In 2010, the 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum accounted for 61% of U.S. exports ($775 billion) and 37% of private services exports ($205 billion). The U.S. economy's export position in the region accounts for nearly 5 million U.S. jobs. But for countries such as the Philippines, the U.S. investment and export position is at the heart of deepening crisis and poverty due to lack of sovereign claim to natural resources and territory. In line with their national interests, countries like the Philippines must wage fierce struggles against U.S. interventionism in order to assert their right to chart their own economic and political paths.

With China's economic growth threatening U.S. dominion over the region, and with Obama's push for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that would outline a US-dominated free trade zone in the region, the U.S. government has announced it will shift its military focus away from Iraq and Afghanistan and renew its commitment to assert its position in Asia-Pacific. It has found a reliable stooge in the Aquino government. Recent negotiations framed as a Strategic Dialogue between top Washington security and defense officials and the Aquino administration have laid the ground work for the consolidation of the Philippines as a key U.S. military base location, serving as a permanent staging ground for U.S. military offensives, storage space for surveillance drones, resupply and refueling station for U.S. warships and aircrafts, as well as rest and recreational facility for U.S. servicemen.

In addition to violating Philippine national sovereignty, Aquino's compliance in accommodating U.S. saber-rattling seeks to undo the 1991 landmark decision of the Philippine Senate to reject the U.S. bases treaty that essentially shut down permanent U.S. military bases in Subic Bay and Clark Air Field by once again opening these ports for indefinite and "rotational" basing of U.S. troops and throughout the archipelago.

Aquino Positions the Philippines in the Crossfire
Not only does the Aquino government reach an all-time high in the barometer of U.S. puppetry with these negotiations, it is aligning the Philippines with a military scheme that will threaten peace in the entire Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. government, driven by its war-dependent economy, is expanding its military presence in Asia-Pacific region under the rhetoric of security in the South China Sea and in particular the territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands, when in fact it seeks an excuse to provoke military aggression and create a war-like situation against China that will boost its military-industrial complex at the expense of surrounding countries. Such compliance on the Aquino government's part will surely position the Filipino people in the middle of the crossfire.

Starting with the Philippine-American War of 1899, which marked the advent of U.S. imperialism onto the global stage at the turn of the 20th century, 113 years of U.S. geopolitical strategy in the region has left the Philippines with a tragic history and ongoing reality of U.S. military infestation whose social costs have burdened its people with untold pain and misery. From hosting the largest U.S. permanent foreign military bases to succumbing to the onerous US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)—the mother of all unequal military treaties and agreements—to the virtually permanent Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), over one century of U.S. military presence in the country has been directly linked to the indiscriminate killings, rape and other sexual offenses, massive displacement of rural communities, waste, disease, and other forms of human rights abuses.

Call for Resistance & Solidarity
As Filipinos in the U.S., BAYAN USA sees concretely how both the Aquino and Obama governments—guardians of financial oligarchy—are acting in betrayal of the broad interest of the Filipino and American peoples. Just as the poor grow poorer in the Philippines under Aquino's failed economic policies, so are the working people in the U.S. forced to carry the heavy burden of paying for a debt crisis they did not create. As people's resistance to the intolerable 1% escalates amidst the crisis, BAYAN USA joins the call for greater solidarity between people in the U.S. struggling against the U.S. military-industrial complex and for economic equality and the Filipino people's ongoing struggle for genuine national independence and democracy. This must translate to greater efforts to expose and oppose the U.S. geopolitical strategy in the Asia-Pacific region as a scheme of the purveyors of crisis and war to maintain tight control over the region's wealth. People's resistance and firm solidarity are key in our efforts to frustrate U.S. interventionism in the region!

U.S. OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES!
U.S. OUT OF ASIA!
JUNK THE US-RP MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATY!
JUNK THE US-RP VISITING FORCES AGREEMENT!
UPHOLD PHILIPPINE NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY!
LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!

Reference:
Bernadette Ellorin
Chairperson, BAYAN USA
chair@bayanusa.org