NDFP ready to resume peace talks with gov’t — Sison
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is ready to return to the negotiating table with the Philippine government, NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Sison said the left-leaning group welcomes President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement, expressing openness and readiness to resume the government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP)-NDFP peace negotiations.
“We are likewise open and ready to resume the peace negotiations and expect the GRP 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 October 4, 2017,” he said.
Sison reiterated their sincerity to negotiate and forge with the government comprehensive agreements on social, economic and political reforms in a bid to “address the roots of the armed conflict and lay the basis of a just and lasting peace as well as corollary agreements to amnesty and release all political prisoners and to have coordinated unilateral ceasefires to start the enjoyment of peace.”
“We respond to the Filipino people´s clamor for the resumption of peace negotiations and 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 added.
On Tuesday, Duterte said he would resume talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) if its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), agrees to a ceasefire and stop collecting “revolutionary taxes.”
“You stop immediately. You and I ceasefire tayo. Wala ni isang putok, ni labintador [No single shot, not even firecracker] and I will be happy,” Duterte said in a speech during the inauguration of Lisap Bridge in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.
“Hintuan ninyo ang revolutionary government. Huwag na kayo magsunog in the name of taxation kasi kakaawa ang negosyante,” he added.
READ: Duterte to Reds: Stop attacks, ‘revolutionary taxes’ and we’ll talk
On Nov. 3, 2017, Duterte terminated the peace negotiations with the NDFP. This was followed by a proclamation declaring the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations on Dec. 5.
But the revival of peace talks recently surfaced after at least 61 House members signed a resolution urging the President to resume the negotiations. Even Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III had expressed support to the revival of the peace talks between the government and the NDFP. /muf
