BAGUIO CITY—The government is bringing the stalled peace talks with communist rebels, through the National Democratic Front, back to the public.
Peace panel members have begun consulting various stakeholders for guidance on how it should proceed with the talks, according to Undersecretary Maria Cleofe Gettie Sandoval, of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp), on Friday.
The government panel is scheduled to meet with various groups that are clamoring for a peace settlement with communist rebels, to explain the status of the talks which have been stalled for 22 months now, she said.
Early in May, the talks triggered an angry exchange of words between Malacañang and the NDF when Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda announced that the NDF panel had “killed” a special track for negotiations which it had proposed to restore formal peace talks.
The Aquino administration said it is seeking another approach to reopen talks with communist rebels, but NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni complained that the talks have not even been terminated.
Negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, on the other hand, would resume soon, now that elections have ended, Sandoval said.
She said the MILF talks would proceed with the settlement of three remaining talking points on Mindanao normalization, economic and power sharing as it prepares for a peace transition.
The Opapp official discussed the NDF and the MNLF on the sidelines of a ceremony that secured the commitment of five nongovernment organizations tasked with monitoring the progress of projects for the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA).
The CPLA was the first group to open peace talks with then President Corazon Aquino after the 1986 Edsa Revolt, and her son, President Aquino, concluded the process in July 2011 with a closure agreement that prescribed 81 social projects for upland communities in exchange for the militia’s disarmament.
The Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Governance (CCAGG), the People’s Organization for Social Transformation and Development Network in Apayao, the Philippine Association of Social Workers Inc. in Ifugao, the International Association for Transformation in Kalinga and the Ebgan Inc. in Mt. Province will monitor and determine whether these projects have led to peace in communities where CPLA influence is strong.
The CPLA closure agreement also allowed CPLA to convert itself into a socioeconomic organization and to absorb 168 qualified militiamen into the military. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer N. Luzon