‘Sincere’ NDFP ready to resume peace talks, Joma says
MANILA, Philippines — The National Democratic Front of the Philippines is “sincere” and willing to resume peace negotiations with the Philippine government, NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said.
Sison’s statement came on the heels of the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte, expressing his willingness to go back to the negotiating table as long as the communist rebels stop their hostile activities and collection of so-called revolutionary taxes from businesses.
“We are likewise open and ready to resume the peace negotiations and expect the government of the Philippines and NDFP negotiating panels to meet as soon as possible in order to make a significant advance on the basis of the drafts prepared on Oct. 4, 2017,” Sison, former professor of Duterte, said.
He insisted that the NDFP is “sincere” in engaging peace negotiations with the government “to obtain comprehensive agreements on social, economic and political reforms.”
These, he said, would address the roots of armed conflict and lay the basis for a just and lasting peace.
“We hope that from here on we can make steady and significant advances on the road of realizing peace in accordance with the people’s demand for full national independence, democracy, social justice, economic development and cultural progress,” Sison said.
In a speech during the inauguration of Lisap Bridge in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday, Duterte bared the “fundamentals” for the resumption of peace talks, which he scrapped last year.
Duterte’s latest pronouncement came after Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana expressed opposition to the revival of peace negotiations with the rebels, citing their unreasonable demands.
READ: Lorenzana cool to resumption of peace talks with NPA
Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Jesus Dureza also condemned the New People’s Army for the attacks in Davao City during the Holy Week attributed to them. He insisted that there should be an “enabling environment” for the peace talks to continue.
Last November, Duterte formally terminated negotiations with the communist guerrillas, citing the rebels' supposed failure to display sincerity in the peace process. Two weeks later, he proclaimed CPP and its armed wing NPA as “terrorist groups.”
A Justice department petition was filed in a Manila court last month seeking to declare the CPP and NPA as terror groups and more than 600 individuals—most of whom are activists and rights defenders—as terrorists.
Under the Human Security Act of 2007, suspected terrorists can be ordered arrested even without a warrant.
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