No ceasefire, no release of political detainees: Rody to NDF

DAVAO City–“Sorry, I cannot do that. ”

President Duterte said he would not release 130 political prisoners before Christmas day unless he receives a signed bilateral ceasefire agreement between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panels and witnessed by the third party facilitator from the Royal Norwegian Government,  claiming he has “conceded to the communists too much too soon.”

“I have conceded to the communists too much too soon. As yet, I have to see a substantive progress of the talks. They are asking for 130 detainees to be released, all NPAs (all members of the New People’s Army). Sorry, I cannot do that. I cannot do it because uubusin nila ang baraha ko” (I will lose all my cards), Duterte told reporters on Thursday afternoon.

In a statement yesterday, NDF peace panel chair Fidel Agcaoili said Duterte’s latest pronouncement is  “disturbing and disappointing, being a complete turnaround” from the commitments he made to him and NDF consultants Benito and Wilma Tiamzon during a dinner at the Legaspi Suites in Davao City on Dec. 2 “where he categorically committed to pardoning 40 convicted political prisoners and releasing 130 sick and elderly political detainees before Christmas.”

Duterte said the political prisoners are his aces and if the NDF keeps asking for more prisoners to be released every meeting, it will be like playing a poker game. “I will lose all my cards. If I release all of them, what will we be talking about?” he said.

He said he wants a document from the government and NDF peace panels with the Norwegian facilitator as witness, “that there is an agreement for a ceasefire for an indefinite period until such time that we can sort out things…”

Agcaoili said the President’s branding of the political prisoners as “all NPA” is a “rash accusation” that “betrays his adherence to his predecessors’ policy and practice of detaining political prisoners on the basis of trumped-up criminal charges and using them as hostages to leverage and pressure the NDFP into an indefinite ceasefire or negotiated capitulation.”

He said Duterte’s allusion to the peace negotiations as a high-stakes poker game is “deplorable, as it tragically leads to the inhumane treatment of close to 400 political prisoners as trump cards and the callous sweeping aside of justice by his deft playing hand.”

The government facilitated the release of 22 political prisoners who are serving as NDF peace panel consultants shortly before the start of the first round of formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway in August.

Since the Duterte administration took over on June 30, the two parties have had two rounds of formal peace negotiations. Each party has declared a unilateral ceasefire in August. They were supposed to have come up with a bilateral ceasefire agreement in late October but no agreement has been forged.

“I do not want a war with anybody. I do not want to kill… I am tired of killing. Tapos na ako niyan,” Duterte said.

Later,  Duterte said he engaged in a long debate with the government peace panel on the matter of the release of 130 political prisoners.

“Ang sabi ko (I told them) ‘No, I will not give it to you. Mauubusan ako ng baraha’ (I will lose my cards). By the time … we have the grand finale…. wala na akong baraha (I won’t have any card). ..‘I have conceded so much too soon.’ That’s about it,” Duterte said.

But Duterte said he would release the 130 prisoners if he receives a signed ceasefire agreement.

“Give me a ceasefire agreement… and I will release the 130” (I will release the elderly and the sick first), he said, adding many of these detainees are 70 years old and are no longer physically fit to take up arms “pero ‘yung mga hardcore na mga NPA fighter, kalokohan yan…” (mindanews)