Joma to return if safety assured

MANILA, Philippines — After 31 years, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison is ready to return to his native land to restart peace negotiations.

But Sison first wants an assurance of his safety from “peace spoilers” in the military who might sabotage the talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) if he returns.

In an interview with radio station dzBB, Sison said he would end his exile and accept President Duterte’s invitation for him to return home from the Netherlands and directly talk peace with the government.

“On the possibility of myself coming back home to be with the President to guide the peace negotiations and hasten the peace negotiations, there has to be sufficient development in the negotiations, there has to be strong basis that the peace spoilers will not be immediately upset,” Sison said.

“If I will return home without an assurance and there is no better circumstance for the peace negotiations, peace spoilers might be able to infiltrate us,” Sison said.   

Sison said he would feel safe if a ceasefire agreement between the NDF and the government peace panels is signed, amnesty
is implemented and political prisoners are released, and the two important issues on agrarian reform and rural development under the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) are resolved.

He said the two panels might be able to resolve these agreements and issues during the 60-day window set by Duterte.

Duterte invited Sison on Saturday to return to the country to enable them directly negotiate peace and oversee the talks.

“Proposal ko kay Sison, hindi ako magpunta doon. Ang pinag-awayan natin ang Pilipinas. Pumunta ka dito. Ako magbigay ng pamasahe (My proposal to Sison, I will not go there. We are fighting for the Philippines. You come here. I will pay for your transportation), I will pay for all your billeting and pagkain (food),” Duterte said.

He added that during the 60-day window, he will order the military not to make any move against communist rebels. 

He said rebels, for their part, just need to lay down their arms.

Duterte did not say when the 60-day window will end.

Sison said he feels Duterte has “good faith” in making the offer.

“But we need to consider the risks should someone manage to infiltrate and something happens to us or something happens before the start of peace negotiations,” Sison said. 

Sison said the usual “peace spoilers” are those in the military who stand to benefit if the war between the government and the communist movement will continue.

Sison has been in exile for 31 years. He fled to Europe in 1987 after talks between the communist group and the government failed during the time of the late president Corazon Aquino.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, chief of the team negotiating with the NDF, told dzBB in a separate interview that his team is already making arrangements for the resumption of peace talks.

Bello also said that government negotiators have started backchannel talks with their counterparts in the NDF.

Sison and Duterte traded barbs last year after the peace negotiations between the government and the NDF were terminated. 

More than a week after ditching the peace talks, Duterte signed a proclamation declaring the CPP-New People’s Army as a terrorist organization. 

In a Palace press briefing yesterday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the government cannot facilitate Sison’s safe travel from Europe to the Philippines.  

“That’s beyond our control of course, but in the Philippines, his liberty will be guaranteed by the President,” Roque added.

Asked if the government would work to remove Sison from the US foreign terrorist list, Roque said Sison should make the arrangements himself.

Roque noted that President Duterte assured Sison that he would be secured only upon his return to the Philippines. 

Last Saturday, Duterte said he was ready to pay for the airfare and accommodation of Sison once he agrees to come back to thresh out issues related to the peace talks.

Despite the complex issues, Roque believes that 60 days would be enough to resume the negotiations and thresh out concerns.

Meanwhile, peace advocates welcomed the offer of President Duterte to resume peace negotiations with the NDF.

Ernesto Alcanzare, lead organizer of the Yes for Peace-Bayanihan ng Bayan, said “the President’s challenge to (Sison) is in tune with the documented call of millions of Filipinos for peace talks to be held here in the Philippines.”

NDF reciprocal working committee on social and economic reforms chair Julie de Lima in a statement posted on the NDF website said the CASER is a linchpin to achieve a just and lasting peace in the country.       

As this developed, the CPP posted on its website a message to its allies on the occasion of the NDF’s 45th founding anniversary, calling for the broadest anti-fascist united front against the Duterte administration.

“By waging revolutionary resistance, both in the urban underground as well as in rural armed struggle, the NDF helps strengthen the people’s determination to fight and defeat the despicable regime,” the CPP said in its statement. – With Christina Mendez, Ramon Efren Lazaro