Duterte meets Reds’ emissaries

Incoming President Rodrigo Duterte chats with NDFP peace panel spokesperson Fidel Agcaoili and wife Chit in Davao City on Wednesday evening. KARLOS MANLUPIG/INQUIRER MINDANAO

DAVAO CITY – Emissaries from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on Wednesday night met with incoming President Rodrigo Duterte here to present the list of nominees for the Cabinet positions offered to them.

Fidel Agcaoili, spokesperson of the NDFP peace panel, said that Duterte already received the list but they requested that the names to remain confidential until the incoming President decides on it.
Duterte earlier said that he has reserved the positions of Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to progressive groups.
“(The decision will be made) at the very at least when I take my oath of office. I have to submit it to the screening committee,” Duterte told the Inquirer after he met with the NDFP emissaries.

Duterte disclosed that apart from the appointments to the Cabinet, he also discussed with the delegation the prospects of not just resuming but also accelerating the peace negotiations.

In the Hague Joint Declaration in 1992, both parties agreed to tackle substantive agendas including human rights and international humanitarian law, socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, end of hostilities and disposition of forces.

In March 1998, both parties signed the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

The government and the NDF panels have already formulated their drafts for the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (Caser) but the process has not made any progress after the talks hit a snag.

Duterte also vowed to release hundreds of political prisoners including NDFP consultants either through pardon or general amnesty.