Bello: P-Noy execs didn’t want peace with Reds

DAVAO CITY—Obstructionists in the Aquino administration prevented peace talks with communist guerrillas from taking off, according to the incoming head of the government panel in talks with guerrilla leaders.

Refusing to name names, Rep. Silvestre Bello III, former negotiator of the government in talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), said people who did not want to sign a peace pact with the NDFP prevailed upon the administration of President Aquino to prioritize talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“It is the reason it (Aquino administration) concentrated more on talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and abandoned the communist-led insurgency in the countryside,” said Bello, who has been tagged also the next labor secretary.

“But we can’t afford partial peace in our country,” said Bello, who expressed confidence nothing of that sort would happen under the Duterte administration.

Bello said he had been personally monitoring developments in peace talks with the Left even if he no longer has any formal involvement in the talks.

He personally visited NDFP leaders in The Netherlands, who recommended that talks be fast-tracked by simultaneously tackling all issues that the guerrilla leaders want resolved.

The recommendations were submitted to the Aquino administration, through Hernani Braganza, former agrarian reform secretary and head of a back channel team that talked with NDFP leaders in The Netherlands in 2014.

But Bello said nothing came out from the recommendations.

“The suggestion was adopted by former Secretary Braganza. I thought it was already approved because he kept on nodding when I presented it,” said Bello.

“So, obviously, some people in the Aquino administration did not want peace negotiations with the NDFP,” Bello added.

Bello said the NDFP had already agreed to set aside the original agreement to follow a step-by-step process.

Despite this, however, no talks resumed between the NDFP and the government.

“Obviously, he (President Aquino) was advised by some people who did not want  a peace settlement with the NDFP,” he said.

“That is clear. These are the obstructionists,” he said.