[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Concha to Rody: Make good on your promise’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MERIANNE GRACE EREÑETA
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO City – Now that he’s president, Rodrigo Duterte should deliver on his promise during the election campaign period to release all political prisoners, according to a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
At least 430 political prisoners have yet to be released, according to Maria Concepcion “Concha” Araneta-Bocala.
Bocala and other NDFP consultants were staging a fast and a hunger strike in Manila to press for the release of political prisoners. Families and supporters of the prisoners were also joining them.
“Just like the public, [I] am also confused,” Bocala told Panay News in a phone interview. “He (Duterte) started with a campaign promise. But where is it now?”
While she and 18 other NDFP consultants were released in August at the resumption of the peace talks, other political prisoners remained incarcerated, said Bocala.
“Ara ina sa Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law ang respect for human rights,” she stressed. “Indi ina dapat questionable ang pag-release kay we are fighting for genuine reforms.”
The NDFP is the umbrella organization of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.
The fasting was from Dec. 3 to 6 while the hunger strike started Wednesday and will end this Saturday, the International Human Rights Day.
Political prisoners will also participate in the hunger strike.
“Naghambal sila (government) 200, 100, 70, 130, 165 (ang i-release), pero asta subong wala,” said Bocala.
The government wanted the bilateral ceasefire agreement signed first before freeing the political prisoners.
“Political detainees are being held hostage – an exchange for an agreement,” said Bocala. “[But] in fact, ang pag-release sa political prisoners is a matter of justice.”
Moreover the government failed to make good on its promise to give all political prisoners “general amnesty,” she added.
Bocala also said even her freedom was “conditional” and would last only until the end of the peace talks.
“What will happen to me if the peace talks do not succeed? Are they going to put me back in jail? Nothing is really certain,” she said.
On Aug. 1, 2015, operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division caught Bocala in a rented house in Juntado Subdivision, Barangay Calumpang, Molo district.
They recovered from her more than P200,000 cash, firearms and ammunitions, an explosive, and several electronic devices.
Bocala had a P7.8-million bounty, based on the Joint Reward List No. 14-2012 of the Interior and Defense departments dated Nov. 12, 2012.
She was released on Aug. 16 to join the peace talks on Aug. 20 in Oslo, Norway.
As NDFP consultant, she was covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees that the NDFP and the Philippine government signed in 1995.
Another round of peace talks was set in January 2017, Bocala said.
While they feel aggrieved by Duterte’s dillydallying on his promise, “wala kami naga-atras sa peace talks,” she said./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
