Satur questions Deles appointment as peace adviser

A former chairman of the National Democratic Front (NDF) negotiating panel on Thursday expressed misgivings on the reappointment of ex-peace process adviser Teresita ‘Ging’ Deles to her previous post. "Does she have any new ideas ngayon yamang pumalpak yung program ni GMA (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s initials)," Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, a defeated senatorial candidate in the May polls, told reporters after a forum at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. President-elect Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III has tapped Deles to head the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process. [See: Deles says yes to peace adviser role in new govt] Deles served as Mrs. Arroyo’s peace adviser from 2003 until she and nine other Cabinet members and senior government officials, collectively known as Hyatt 10, withdrew their support from President Arroyo in June 2005. She initially headed the National Anti-Poverty Commission from 2001 to 2003. Ocampo headed the NDF negotiating panel during term of Aquino’s mother, former President Corazon Aquino, in 1986. Based on Ocampo’s website, the talks were short-lived and eventually broke down due to the infamous Mendiola massacre on Jan. 22, 1987. The talks resumed during the Ramos administration but got stalled again during the time of President Joseph Estrada. In August 2004, the NDF withdrew from the negotiations when it accused Manila of not exerting efforts in convincing the US and other allies into removing the CPP-NPA-NDF on their list of terrorist organizations. 'Have you any new idea?' In opposing the appointment of Deles, Ocampo said: "Meron ba siyang bagong idea ng approach dito sa peace process (Does she have any new idea on how to approach the peace process)?" He said the negotiations between the NDF and government panel was put to halt in 2004 while they were discussing the economic and social reforms. “Kung tinapos nila yun at nagkaroon ng kasunduan sa kinakailangang mga economic reforms malamang marami doon ay nai-transform into legislative proposals pero dahil suspended, walang nangyari na mga pagbabago," he said. (Had they finished the negotiations on the needed economic reforms, many of these could have been transformed into legislative proposals but since the process was suspended, nothing happened.) Ocampo, meanwhile, expressed hope that there will be lesser extrajudicial killings during the term of Aquino, even as he asked the president-elect to review the counter insurgency plan , Oplan Bantay Laya, being implemented by the present administration. "Very crucial sa Aquino government na i-review at if possible stop the Oplan Bantay Laya (It is very crucial for the Aquino government to review and if possible stop the Oplan Bantay Laya)," he said. Resume talks He said Oplan Bantay Laya failed to distinguish the underground armed movement from the legal activists and leaders. He said that despite the implementation of the couter-insurgency program, the Arroyo administration failed to achieve its target of strategically defeating the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). "So ang ibig sabihin yung napakarami nilang biniktima sa paglabag sa karapatang pantao e hindi nakapag-achieve nung kanilang objective kaya dapat ma-review ng bagong administration yung bagong pamamaraan ng paghahanap ng solusyon dito sa long running insurgency and the best option ay bumalik sa negotiating table with the National Democratic Front," Ocampo said. (It only means that despite the many victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration they failed to achieve their objective so the incoming government should review and find new ways to solve the long running insurgency and the best option is to return to the negotiating table with the NDF.) — RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV