Reds offer longer truce for amnesty

LUCENA CITY―The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said it would implement an indefinite ceasefire once the government, through a general amnesty approved by Congress, releases more than 500 political prisoners.

“This [ceasefire] declaration can be issued soon after the completion of the release of at least five more consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and around 520 political prisoners nationwide, through a presidential proclamation of general amnesty as earlier broached by [President Duterte],” the CPP said in a statement on Monday.

The CPP hopes the President would issue a proclamation of general amnesty covering all political prisoners after the resumption of formal peace talks, “in order to encourage the CPP to expeditiously issue its declaration of interim ceasefire during the course of the peace negotiations.”

The  peace talks between the government and the NDFP resumed on Monday and will end on Aug. 26 in Oslo, Norway.

Both sides, who agreed to a truce over the weekend, sat facing each other in Holmenkollen Park Hotel’s Nobel Room. The meeting convened at 3:30 p.m., Manila time.

“This is a conflict that has lasted for far too long,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende told the meeting, adding there now seemed to be a “historic momentum” building to end the conflict.

“I’m really crossing my fingers,” he told the parties, each represented by six negotiators.

Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, during the opening ceremony of the negotiations, said it was symbolic that everyone was wearing the traditional barong Tagalog and Filipiniana dress.

“It shows that we are one undivided nation,” Dureza said in his opening statement, adding that the road to peace “is not always rosy.”

CPP founding chair and NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said the Filipino people were rejoicing over the bright prospects of a just and lasting peace.

“We in the NDFP are optimistic the objective conditions and subjective factors are more favorable than before,” Sison said in his opening statement.

He said the Filipino people had been hoping for fundamental reforms in the country.

One of the five topics on the agenda of the negotiations is the amnesty proclamation for the release of all political prisoners, subject to concurrence by Congress.

In its statement on Monday, the CPP said that after the seven-day ceasefire lapses and until the CPP issues a unilateral declaration of interim ceasefire, it could order National People’s Army rebels “to stand down and remain on active defense.”

“Details will be issued after the Oslo talks,” it said. With reports from Karlos Manlupig and Ryan Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao, and the wires