From the Manila Standard Today (Mar 31): NDF seeks gab revival; PNoy wants agenda first
THE communist National Democratic Front has signified its desire to resume informal talks with the government in May through third-party facilitator Norway, but the Aquino administration first wants to know the agenda that will be put on the table.
SisonGovernment chief negotiator Alexander Padilla said Sunday no agreement had been reached as to when the informal talks would be held.
He said the NDF made its request after the arrest of Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma Austria, chairman and secretary-general, respectively, of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
“We want to know the agenda first,” Padilla said in a phone interview.
“Are they calling for the resumption of the talks so they can demand again the release of their leaders? For our part, we want a clear and time-bound agenda that includes a ceasefire mechanism.”
Padilla said the government was still waiting for feedback from Norway on the items to be discussed during the proposed informal meeting.
Since the Tiamzon couple were arrested, the CPP and the NDF had been giving mixed signals on the future of the peace talks, which have remained stalled since February 2011.
CPP founding chairman and NDF political consultant Jose Maria Sison has accused the government of killing the peace talks and hinted it would be best to wait for the next administration to resume the negotiations.
Padilla earlier told reporters that the government now preferred to negotiate with Philippine-based CPP leaders instead of the Utrecht-based NDF panel members such as Sison and chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni.
“There should be no pretensions anymore. We have been talking for so long with the NDF negotiators but they would say one thing and the CPP would say another,” Padilla said.
“In the end, it is always the CPP that has the last say, so we should just talk with the CPP directly.”
The CPP and the NDF have both invoked the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees in seeking the release of the Tiamzon couple and other detained rebel leaders.
But the government has stood firm that the Jasig has become inoperative, and that the safe- conduct pass does not extinguish standing arrest warrants.
The Tiamzon couple aside, the other high-ranking communist leaders who are detained are Tirso Alcantara, Alan Jazmines, Emeterio Antalan, Leopoldo Caloza, Pedro Codaste, Alfredo Mapano, Eduardo Sarmiento, Paterno Opo, Dario Tomada and Marilyn Badayos-Condes.
Meanwhile, following the successful signing of the Bangsamoro Peace Framework Agreement on Thursday, the Promotion of Church People’s Response has joined the call for the government and the National Democratic Front “to immediately resume the peace talks to address the roots of the armed conflict.”
“We further call to overcome obstacles that impede the desire of the people for a just and lasting peace,” group secretary-general Nardy Sabino said in a statement.
“We are urging both parties to seek ways to resolve the contentious issues based on their previously signed agreements.”
Sister Maureen Catabian, convenor for the group Pilgrims for Peace, said they wanted peace, harmony and prosperity in the country.
“It has been quite some time now, 45 years to be exact, that the armed conflict between the [government] and the CPP-NPA-NDFP has been going on with no let-up,” Catabian said.
“Hundreds if not thousands of people, combatants and non-combatants alike, have died, civilian communities have been displaced and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law are rife.”
Rex Reyes Jr., general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, also urged the government and the communists to go back to the negotiating table.
“We say choose the way of peace,” Reyes said.
“The process and agenda have already been established since September 1, 1992, in what is now a foundational document on the peace talks, also called The Hague Agreement, and in other important agreements reached by both parties. These are outstanding documents.”
