The country's communist rebel leaders have announced the resumption of formal peace talks with the incoming government peace negotiators on the third or the fourth week of July in Oslo, Norway.
According to MindaNews report, Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair Jose Maria Sison announced the formal resumption of peace negotiation in his video message on a peace forum Tuesday at Almendras gym in Davao City.
This developed two weeks after President-elect Rodrigo Duterte sent a team of negotiators led by incoming Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Jesus Dureza to Norway to discuss the possible resumption of talks with Sison, who has been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987.
Sison was quoted as saying in the report that both parties are expected to take up the affirmation of previously signed agreements, the plan to accelerate the peace negotiations on the three remaining items of the substantive agenda, release of all political prisoners by general amnesty, and the truce.
He said he was happy with the results of the preliminary talks last June 14 and 15 in Oslo.
However, the National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesperson, Fidel Agcaoili, said the resumption of peace talks might be moved to the fourth week as they need more time with regard to the release of the consultants.
Agcaoili was referring to NDF officials who are being detained and whose release the revolutionary alliance has been demanding as precondition [for the resumption of talks].
Sison said: “Let us look forward to the success of the first formal talks in the time of the Duterte government. The success of these will lead to further hard work by the principals, negotiators, consultants, ceasefire monitors and other focused personnel of the negotiating parties and to further inputs and support from all the peace-loving forces and people."
Sison expressed optimism over the prospects of the peace negotiation under the Duterte administration, and that they wanted to seize the opportunity.
“Let us take advantage of a new situation in which the worsening crisis of the ruling system, the growing strength of the people’s revolutionary movement and the failures of previous administrations have brought about a president who is courageous and proud to say that he (Duterte) is the first Left president of the Philippines and is willing to adopt and implement the necessary reforms for a just and lasting peace,” he said.
He noted that peace negotiations did not succeed under former presidents Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as well as under outgoing President Benigno S. Aquino III who he said lacked the political will to overcome their “reactionary interests and use their power and resources toa dvance the peace process.”
The CPP and its armed wing , the New People's Army (NPA), had been designated by the United States government as foreign terrorist organizations.
The US state department's counter-terrorism bureau stated that the CPP/NPA, a Maoist group, was first put on the list as a terrorist organization in August 9, 2002. It was formed in March 1969 with the aim of overthrowing the government through protracted guerrilla warfare.
The Philippine government estimates there are 4,000 CPP/NPA members operating in Rural Luzon, Visayas, and parts of northern and eastern Mindanao. There are also cells in Manila and other metropolitan centers, according to the report.
The report also stated that CPP/NPA primarily targets Philippine security forces, government officials, local infrastructure, and businesses that refuse to pay extortion, or “revolutionary taxes.”
In May 2013, the Armed Forces of the Philippines reported that from 2011 through the first quarter of 2013, 383 people, including 158 civilians, were killed in encounters between CPP/NPA and government forces
The Armed Forces of the Philippines also attributes to the communist guerillas the deaths of 383 people, including 158 civilians, in encounters with government forces, the report noted.
The US State department said the CPP-NPA has had a "long history of attacking US interests in the Philippines," citing four separate operations in Angeles City that killed three American soldiers.
On Monday, Agcaoili told a press conference in Davao City that the Philippine government should ask the US government to remove the CPP from its list of terrorist organizations to allay fears that Sison might be interdicted in a foreign airport on his way home.
“The US has reiterated its declaration against the CPP-NPA – and Joma – as a terrorist organization. There are spoilers and security risks. If the government is interested to have Joma come home to be able to talk to the president, they should raise it formally,” MindaNews quotes Agcoili as saying.
He said he inclusion of the rebel group in the US terrorist watchlist has made Sison’s return “a ticklish issue” and difficult to do, adding that they wanted an assurance the US will not intervene in such a way that will derail the peace negotiations.
“There should be a guarantee from the Dutch government, Norwegian government, and the US government to respect the sovereignty of the Filipino people in their desire to pursue a just and lasting peace by allowing SIson to come home without interference,” he said. MGP News
According to MindaNews report, Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair Jose Maria Sison announced the formal resumption of peace negotiation in his video message on a peace forum Tuesday at Almendras gym in Davao City.
This developed two weeks after President-elect Rodrigo Duterte sent a team of negotiators led by incoming Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Jesus Dureza to Norway to discuss the possible resumption of talks with Sison, who has been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987.
Sison was quoted as saying in the report that both parties are expected to take up the affirmation of previously signed agreements, the plan to accelerate the peace negotiations on the three remaining items of the substantive agenda, release of all political prisoners by general amnesty, and the truce.
He said he was happy with the results of the preliminary talks last June 14 and 15 in Oslo.
However, the National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesperson, Fidel Agcaoili, said the resumption of peace talks might be moved to the fourth week as they need more time with regard to the release of the consultants.
Agcaoili was referring to NDF officials who are being detained and whose release the revolutionary alliance has been demanding as precondition [for the resumption of talks].
Sison said: “Let us look forward to the success of the first formal talks in the time of the Duterte government. The success of these will lead to further hard work by the principals, negotiators, consultants, ceasefire monitors and other focused personnel of the negotiating parties and to further inputs and support from all the peace-loving forces and people."
Sison expressed optimism over the prospects of the peace negotiation under the Duterte administration, and that they wanted to seize the opportunity.
“Let us take advantage of a new situation in which the worsening crisis of the ruling system, the growing strength of the people’s revolutionary movement and the failures of previous administrations have brought about a president who is courageous and proud to say that he (Duterte) is the first Left president of the Philippines and is willing to adopt and implement the necessary reforms for a just and lasting peace,” he said.
He noted that peace negotiations did not succeed under former presidents Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as well as under outgoing President Benigno S. Aquino III who he said lacked the political will to overcome their “reactionary interests and use their power and resources toa dvance the peace process.”
The CPP and its armed wing , the New People's Army (NPA), had been designated by the United States government as foreign terrorist organizations.
The US state department's counter-terrorism bureau stated that the CPP/NPA, a Maoist group, was first put on the list as a terrorist organization in August 9, 2002. It was formed in March 1969 with the aim of overthrowing the government through protracted guerrilla warfare.
The Philippine government estimates there are 4,000 CPP/NPA members operating in Rural Luzon, Visayas, and parts of northern and eastern Mindanao. There are also cells in Manila and other metropolitan centers, according to the report.
The report also stated that CPP/NPA primarily targets Philippine security forces, government officials, local infrastructure, and businesses that refuse to pay extortion, or “revolutionary taxes.”
In May 2013, the Armed Forces of the Philippines reported that from 2011 through the first quarter of 2013, 383 people, including 158 civilians, were killed in encounters between CPP/NPA and government forces
The Armed Forces of the Philippines also attributes to the communist guerillas the deaths of 383 people, including 158 civilians, in encounters with government forces, the report noted.
The US State department said the CPP-NPA has had a "long history of attacking US interests in the Philippines," citing four separate operations in Angeles City that killed three American soldiers.
On Monday, Agcaoili told a press conference in Davao City that the Philippine government should ask the US government to remove the CPP from its list of terrorist organizations to allay fears that Sison might be interdicted in a foreign airport on his way home.
“The US has reiterated its declaration against the CPP-NPA – and Joma – as a terrorist organization. There are spoilers and security risks. If the government is interested to have Joma come home to be able to talk to the president, they should raise it formally,” MindaNews quotes Agcoili as saying.
He said he inclusion of the rebel group in the US terrorist watchlist has made Sison’s return “a ticklish issue” and difficult to do, adding that they wanted an assurance the US will not intervene in such a way that will derail the peace negotiations.
“There should be a guarantee from the Dutch government, Norwegian government, and the US government to respect the sovereignty of the Filipino people in their desire to pursue a just and lasting peace by allowing SIson to come home without interference,” he said. MGP News
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