No hostile words this time, Joma says he welcomes Palace response to separate rebel truce declaration
LUCENA CITY—Exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison expressed appreciation for the government response to his recommendation for rebels to stand down during the COVID-19 health emergency gripping the entire country.
He also said he looked forward to resuming peace talks with the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, a former student of Sison.
“I am glad that the presidential spokesman has welcomed my statement in favor of the unilateral ceasefire by the revolutionary side,” Sison said in an online interview on Tuesday (March 24).
Sison said he hoped that National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and government panels would be able to sort things out for a resumption of aborted peace talks.
The two panels, he said, “can continue discussions” on making the separate truce declarations by the government and rebels “become more effective.”
The peace negotiation was supposedly set to reopen last February.
But Duterte wanted to meet first with Sison in the Philippines before officially agreeing to resume the talks.
Sison, however, turned down the condition.
Edited by TSB
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