Palace: Proposed meeting with Joma not a precondition for peace talks

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday clarified that the proposed private talk between President Rodrigo Duterte and communist leader Jose Maria Sison is not a prerequisite for the resumption of the peace talks.

“It is not as if the president said he is willing to resume with peace talks after he talks to Joma Sison. What he said was the New People’s Army must first show humility,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised press briefing Monday.

NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Its political arm negotiating with the government is the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Roque noted: “What he said the NPA must first show humility. And the possibility of a one-on-one meeting was proposed by the journalist and the president said, ‘One-on-one, maybe it's possible.’ But that is not a precondition for the resumption of peace talks.”

Duterte was quoted in a MindaNews report saying that he wanted Sison to come home to talk privately.

The president also said he would return to the negotiating table if the communist rebels, whom he described as arrogant, would “go lower,” MindaNews reported.

READ:  Duterte wants private talk with Joma

Responding to the president’s statement, Sison said he is willing to have conversations with Duterte.

“It would indeed be a waste if we would not interface even once, considering the success of the four rounds of formal talks since 2016,” Sison said.

The CPP founder suggested that they meet in a country that is a neighbor of the Philippines to which Roque responded: “Sorry to burst his bubble. He’s not that important.”

Sison has been oin self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987

The president classified the CPP and NPA as “terrorists” last December after he formally terminated the peace negotiations between the government and the armed rebels the month before. A court decision is needed to make the declaration official under the Human Security Act of 2007.

When he assumed office in 2016, Duterte vowed to forge a political settlement with communists, even appointing people associated with the left to government posts as a goodwill measure.