Court allows 5 NDF consultants to join talks

A Manila court has allowed five consultants of the National Democratic Front (NDF) to travel to the Netherlands to attend backchannel talks for the resumption of peace negotiations between the government and communist rebels.

In an order dated June 8, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 presiding judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina granted the motions of Benito Tiamzon, Adelberto Silva, Rafael Baylosis, Randall Echanis and Vicente Ladlad to be allowed to travel to Utrecht at the end of the month.

The court, however, ordered Tiamzon and Silva to again post P100,000 bail, as their original bail bond was cancelled last January after the government cancelled the peace talks.

In its order, the court allowed the NDF consultants to join the formal and informal talks from June 22-30 and return to the Philippines within three days after conclusion of the talks and personally appear before the court.

The court also required the consultants to report to the Philippine embassies in the Netherlands and Norway.

They are also required to submit a report on the outcome of the talks within 10 days upon returning.

The court decided to allow the consultants to join the talks after Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Laroza-Torrevillas said the “state raises no objections (to their joining the talks)... only in so far as the political aspect of these cases is concerned.”

The consultants said their presence at the backchannel talks is “indispensable,” especially in the task of drafting a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms, as well as a ceasefire agreement.

They cited their membership in the NDF ceasefire committee and in the reciprocal working committee on social and economic reforms.

Government chief peace negotiator Silvestre Bello III and presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza had also filed a manifestation informing the court of the developments in the peace negotiations, especially the need for “informal discreet talks” to tackle “requirements of having an enabling environment for the eventual resumption of the peace talks.”

The NDF consultants are facing 15 counts of murder – together with Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair Jose Maria Sison – for their alleged role in the 1980s communist purge. The remains of the victims of the purge were found in a mass grave in Leyte in 2006.

They are also included in the Department of Justice’s list of alleged terrorists.