This photo taken on July 30, 2017 shows guerrillas of the New People’s Army in formation in the Sierra Madre mountain range. (Agence France-Presse)
LUCENA CITY – The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s appointment of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea as a member of the government peace panel.
“The appointment of ES Medialdea as a member of the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) panel is welcome on two counts,” Fidel Agcaoili, NDFP peace panel chair, said in an online interview from his base in Utrecht in the Netherlands on Sunday night.
Agcaoili added: “He (Medialdea) can act as a direct line to PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte). And, two, which is also important, he is a civilian.”
Agcaoili said Medialdea’s appointment to become part of the government peace negotiators “shows that the GRP respects and upholds the democratic principle of civilian supremacy/authority over the military/security sector in pursuing its political agenda for peace.”
Earlier in the day, the government and the NDFP representatives issued a joint statement declaring their agreement to recommend the issuance of unilateral and reciprocal nationwide ceasefire effective December 23 to January 7.
On Sunday night, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo in a statement said Duterte approved the nationwide ceasefire recommendation over the holidays to help pave the way for the resumption of the peace negotiation that was terminated in November 2017.
On December 6, Duterte ordered Bello III to meet NDFP leaders in the Netherlands and convinced them to give the peace negotiations another try.
Both parties were looking forward to the informal meeting next month to thresh out other contentious issues for the revival of the formal peace negotiation.