Despite odds, peace talks can move forward — Joma Sison

LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines — Top rebel leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison on Wednesday said that despite the odds and opposition from key government officials, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was willing to give peace talks a chance.

“There is hard work ahead for negotiators and consultants … for the peace negotiations to move forward,” the CCP founder said in an online interview from his base in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Sison said the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines negotiating panels headed by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Fidel Agcaoili respectively, were “conscientious and competent,” and that barring “disruptions and terminations, they can do their work effectively and at the proper pace.”