Former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III is said to be offered the chief peace negotiator post by presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. NESTOR CORRALES/INQUIRER.net
DAVAO CITY—The government’s peace negotiations with the communist rebels should not have preconditions, a party-list representative and former justice secretary said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters here, 1BAP Rep. Silvestre Bello III said the government, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) should talk peace without preconditions.
“I’ve been telling both government and the NDF CPP-NPA that the conduct of the peace negotiation should be without any precondition. In other words, government should go back to the peace table with the NDF and CPP-NPA without any precondition,” he said.
Bello is reportedly being eyed by presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte as chief peace negotiator with the NDFP.
He said he was willing to take the post, but he maintained that he had yet to receive an official offer.
“There’s no formal offer but if offered, who am I to refuse the President-elect of the Republic of the Philippines,” Bello said.
“Filipinos are hungry for peace,” Bello said, but peace negotiations should not have a “deadline.”
“In peace negotiations, it is not advisable to put timelines,” he said. “There shouldn’t be a deadline.”
He said the government could not achieve peace by “just designing a peace agreement.”
“Porke nagpirma kayo ng peace agreement, e kapayapaan na (Just because you signed a peace agreement, it doesn’t mean there will be peace). The value of the talks is that while you are talking, you are actually addressing the root causes of the armed conflict,” he said.
Extreme poverty and injustice, he said, were among the main causes of rebellion.
He said corruption in government was so massive and our justice system was “perverted.”
“If there is no poor in the Philippines, if there is no longer corruption in government, if justice can be made available to our people, especially to the poor, I assure you, we will have peace in our country,” he said.
Bello said the government must get the trust and confidence of the communists for the peace process to succeed.
He said political will was needed for peace talks to prosper and he believed Duterte “wants peace at the earliest possible time.”