Venue still snags talks with NDF

Nothing is definite yet.

Vice President Teofisto Guingona said yesterday the government and the communist and Muslim separatist rebels have yet to agree on the venue of the peace talks.

Guingona said the government peace panel has not even submitted its recommendations on where to hold the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on one hand, and the National Democratic Front (NDF) on the other.

The Arroyo administration maintained that the talks must be held in the country, but the MILF and the NDF countered that they should be held abroad.

Citing financial constraints, Guingona said the government may agree on a foreign venue, but only if the place is close to the Philippines, such as Hong Kong.

"The government is cash-strapped and we are trying our best to minimize our expenses. The government just doesn’t have the money for the holding of the talks outside (the country)," Guingona added.

He indicated, however, that obtaining a permanent peace accord far outweighs the expenditures.

The Vice President also admitted that apart from the issue on the venue, the panelists have yet to iron out matters pertaining to the resumption of the negotiations.

He pointed out that the negotiators must agree first on whether they would go back to square one, or pick up where they left off when the talks bogged down last year.

To resolve the imminent impasse on the venue, acting Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, concurrent presidential adviser on the peace process, proposed shifting venues.

Under the scheme, the panels would agree on a certain place for a particular stage of the talks, and another place for the other stages.

Ermita said the setup was meant to address the government’s policy that the talks be held in the Philippines, and the rebels’ demand that the meetings should take place in a "foreign neutral country."

The government panel to the talks with the Netherlands-based leaders of the NDF, the political wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines founded by Jose Ma. Sison, is led by former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

On the other hand, the government’s chief negotiator with the MILF is presidential adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza.

President Arroyo has referred the issue on the venue to Cabinet Cluster E which deals with matters of national security and political developments.

Ermita said Cluster E would tackle the matter within the week.

Any decision by the Cabinet on the issue would be relayed to Bello who will in turn convey it Sison and other NDF leaders currently on self-exile in The Hague, notably Luis Jalandoni, head of the NDF peace panel. –Edith Regalado