In a statement signed by Panel Chairperson Julie De Lima, the NDFP Peace Negotiating Panel assailed the recent illegal arrests and detention of NDFP consultants Simeon Naogsan, Porferio Tuna, and Wigberto Villarico and said that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) is deliberately creating “hostile conditions” to obstruct the peace negotiations.

The NDFP Peace Panel emphasized that the illegal arrests and arbitrary detention of these consultants are yet another in a string of blatant violations by the GRP of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), signed to provide both parties to the negotiations the conducive conditions to engage without the threat of arrest, killing or harassment.

The NDFP Peace Panel also firmly rejected GRP’s National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya’s claim that JASIG is no longer in effect.

“The effectivity of these agreements cannot be simply rescinded through a mere press conference or media statement. Such agreements are the product of formal negotiations and mutual commitment, rooted in both national and international legal principles, and cannot be undone unilaterally or casually. The termination of an agreement like JASIG requires formal procedures as stipulated in the document signed by both parties in 1995,” De Lima asserted.

According to De Lima, consultants and negotiators of the NDFP have been repeatedly subjected to arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, and torture.

In 2022, NDFP Peace Panel negotiators Benito Tiamzon and wife Wilma Austria were abducted, brutally tortured and murdered by GRP’s Armed Forces of the Philippines with the help of US special forces. In 2019, NDFP Peace Panel spokesperson Randy Malayao was gunned down by GRP assassins, and in 2020, key NDFP consultant for the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) Randall Echanis was brutally tortured and killed in his home also by GRP assailants. Several other key NDFP consultants were either extrajudicially killed or arrested and detained.

“By repeatedly violating these protections, the GRP has disregarded its own commitments and continues to push the ongoing talks to the brink of collapse” the NDFP stressed.

“How can we possibly engage in meaningful negotiations when our negotiators and consultants are subjected to arrests, killings, and torture? This issue is both a practical and political obstacle to the ongoing talks, as it threatens not only the safety of the NDFP consultants, negotiators and staff but also undermines the very foundation of trust and dialogue necessary for any productive peace negotiation to continue,” the NDFP Peace Panel strongly stressed.

In another statement, the progressive lawyers’ group National Union of People’s Lawyers, said the recent killings and arbitrary arrests of NDFP consultants reveals more than a lack of sincerity by the Philippine government in pursuing peace but is an outright disregard for both human rights and humanitarian law, and a blatant refusal to honor the commitments it has made through formal agreements.

“If the Marcos administration is serious in its claim of pursuing peace negotiations with the NDFP, it must begin by adhering to international law, the CARHRIHL, the JASIG and other agreements they voluntarily adopted, and that includes the obligation to respect the safety and security of NDFP consultants. The government must accept that fact that nothing less than addressing the root causes of armed conflict will put an end to it,” the NUPL concluded.