Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza (RADYO INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
DAVAO CITY – The formal peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines have officially resumed after five years of dormancy.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, during the opening ceremony of the negotiations in Oslo, Norway, on Monday (Aug. 22, Manila time) said that it was symbolic that everyone came wearing the traditional Barong Tagalog and Filipiniana dress.
“It shows that we are one and undivided nation,” Dureza said in his opening statement.
The resumption of talks, Dureza said, has reignited the lost sparks of the process that has gone through six presidencies.
Dureza admitted that the peace process has been through a lot of challenges and breakdowns due to several sensitive issues, including preconditions.
Despite these challenges, Dureza remarked that the talks have taken a huge turn because of a new element in the peace process and the country.
“There is a new element on what we are doing and it is the Duterte presidency,” Dureza said.
Dureza said President Duterte has taken bold steps including the “unprecedented and historic release of detainees in order to make them available for the negotiations.”
With common grounds and existing mutual trust, Dureza said, the peace process should not be called a negotiation anymore but a shared conversation.
“The peace road is not always rosy. There are humps and bumps along the way,” he said.
But he quickly added that both parties should not leave the negotiating table because the country might not have the same opportunity and favorable situations again.
“Let us stay in the course no matter what,” he said.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman and NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said that the Filipino people have been rejoicing over the bright prospects of just and lasting peace.
“We in the NDFP are optimistic that the objective conditions and subjective factors are more favorable than any other than before,” Sison said in his opening statement in Oslo, Norway.
He said the Filipino people have been hoping for fundamental reforms in the country.
Sison added that for the first time in the history of the country, a president emerged denouncing the abuses of the oligarchy.
He noted Duterte’s position against foreign powers while using the language of streets and masses.
Duterte is the first president who claims he is from the Left and a socialist and is willing to seek common ground with the revolutionary movement, according to Sison.
Sison said the enactment and implementation of comprehensive agreements on socio-economic, and political and constitutional reforms would greatly benefit the people.
“The people can benefit from the bourgeois democratic reforms in the next six years,” Sison said.
These reforms, Sison said, would include the assertion of national sovereignty and territorial integrity and substantial socio-economic programs.
“This is a President who can understand and appreciate the programs of the national democratic movement,” Sison said adding that Duterte knew how to work in achieving just and lasting peace. SFM