FOURTH ROUND Peace talks between the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines formally open at Radisson Blu Palace Hotel in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The fourth round of talks opened in The Netherlands a day late on Monday without the signing of a bilateral ceasefire agreement between the government and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panels.
The forging of a bilateral ceasefire was one of four conditions set by President Duterte for the resumption of the talks.
But both panels seemed determined to pursue the peace process as they agreed to discuss and possibly sign an interim ceasefire agreement by April 6.
At the opening ceremony of the talks in Noordwijk, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, government peace panel chair, said the discussions might prove to be difficult and exacting given the diversity of the positions taken by the parties.
“But we will not waiver from the task we embraced when we decided to restore in August last year the peace talks from its five-year impasse. We shall not fall into indifference that beset the past negotiations. After all, the negotiations, as in other peace processes elsewhere, are all about finding common ground in diversity,” Bello said.
For his part, Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza hoped the two sides could work out a more stable bilateral or joint ceasefire agreement.
“We have already agreed on the final outcome of the talks—lasting peace and sustainable development. This is not a case of one party giving in or giving up. It is about finding an acceptable common ground that the bigger panel—the public—will accept and support. The road to peace is never a paved one. It will be full of bumps and bends. Let us stay the course,” Dureza said in his opening statement.
NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison expressed the willingness of the NDFP to sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement.
But for now, both parties can reinstate the unilateral ceasefire as an interim ceasefire accord, according to Sison.
NDFP peace panel chair Fidel Agcaoili said the memorandum of understanding for the interim ceasefire could be signed at the end of the fourth round of talks.
Agcaoili said the main purpose of a ceasefire, regardless of its form, was to create conditions for parties to reach agreements satisfactory to both sides.
For Sison, the bilateral ceasefire agreement can be signed after the inking of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (Caser), considered the heart and soul of the peace process.
The draft Caser prepared by the NDFP, political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), calls for, among other things, free land distribution, rural industrialization and a ban on open-pit mines
Founded in 1968, the CPP has unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with five Presidents before Mr. Duterte. The rebellion, one of Asia’s longest, has left about 40,000 combatants and civilians dead and stunted economic development.
Four preconditions
In his speech at the military’s Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro City on Sunday, Mr. Duterte set four preconditions before the fourth round of talks could proceed. These include the release of soldiers and policemen captured by the New People’s Army, armed wing of the CPP; an end on the collection of revolutionary tax; and for the NDFP to quit claiming territories.
But the weightiest among his demands was for both parties to sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement before they could proceed in the fourth round of talks.
The bilateral ceasefire was part of the agenda earlier agreed by both parties for the fourth round of talks, which should have started on Sunday morning but was moved to Monday after the President phoned government negotiators for his final directives.
The opening ceremony was pushed to a later schedule on the morning of April 3 after the parties asked for back-channel discussions, including separate meetings of both panels.
In Malacañang, speaking before the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, Mr. Duterte said on Monday that he would not hesitate to use the “full power of the State” in the event peace talks between the government and communist rebels fail.
The President noted that the talks “have not made any progress because I have some conditions to impose before we go back to [the negotiating table].”
Asked whether the talks could proceed without the NDFP adhering first to the conditions set by Mr. Duterte, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said: “As far as I know they are taking each parameter, one at a time.”
Sources said that had there been no termination of the peace process in February, the issues raised by Mr. Duterte, especially the bilateral ceasefire, could have been addressed or discussed by now.