MANILA, Philippines — The communist National Democratic Front (NDF) has not demanded a coalition government, rebel peace panel chairman Fidel Agcaoili said yesterday.
Agcaoili disputed the claims of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior officer-in-charge Eduardo Año and presidential spokesman Harry Roque.Lorenzana said the ongoing review of all peace documents and agreements with the rebels showed that “it lays down the foundation of power sharing towards coalition government.”
Lorenzana, Año and Roque all slammed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman and NDF chief political consultant Jose Ma. Sison for claiming last week that the rebels are strong enough to oust President Duterte.
“At any rate, it looks like the orchestrated lies and attacks of Lorenzana, Año and Roque against professor Sison have sounded the death knell on the peace talks under the Duterte regime. The peace spoilers seem to have won the day,” Agcaoili said.
Agcaoili said Lorenzana, Año and Roque must have been asleep when Duterte issued Proclamation 360 terminating the peace negotiations.
“This proclamation has never been rescinded, impliedly or otherwise, and remains in place since November 2017. Also in place are Proclamation 374 and the proscription case against the CPP and NPA (New People’s Army),” Agcaoili said.
Agcaoili said Duterte has in fact postponed the mutually agreed upon date for the resumption of formal talks on June 28 in Oslo, Norway, which would have removed the impediments to advance the peace negotiations forward.?“For the record, the NDF has never put forward any demand for a coalition government. This has been clarified several times by Prof. Jose Maria Sison to the (government) and the Third Party Facilitator, the Royal Norwegian Government, since October 2017,” Agcaoili said.?The NDF is representing the CPP and the NPA in the peace negotiations with the government.
When he took office in 2016, Duterte resumed peace talks with the CPP-NPA but canceled the negotiations last year to protest continued guerrilla attacks on troops, and signed an order declaring the rebel group a terrorist organization.
After backchannel talks with the rebels, Duterte cancelled the stand down deal and the scheduled June 28 formal peace talks, stressing the need for review of the agreements and consultation with stakeholders.
Sison said Duterte’s decision to cancel the peace talks for three months is a “deal breaker.” – With Marc Jason Cayabyab, Gilbert Bayoran