Oslo talks a reunion of friends– Joma

Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

LUCENA CITY—The preliminary talks that should lead to the resumption of peace negotiations between the government and the communists will be a happy reunion of old friends.

“I am sure the atmosphere will be cordial. We are old friends who worked [together] productively in the past,” Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison said in an online interview from his base in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on Tuesday.

He said the three-day talks, set to begin on Thursday in Oslo, Norway, will be a “happy occasion.”

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel composed of Sison, panel head Luis Jalandoni and four other rebel leaders flew to Oslo on Tuesday. The government representatives in the Scandinavian city are incoming Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and peace negotiator Jesus Dureza.

Bello led the government panel in the peace negotiations with the NDFP between 1992 and 1998, while Dureza served as presidential peace adviser in the Ramos and Arroyo administrations.