MANILA, Philippines — The doors are still open for peace talks, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said yesterday.
But Dureza was quick to add that the communist rebels must stop collecting revolutionary taxes in order for the talks to proceed.
“The doors for the resumption of peace talks with the NDF (National Democratic Front) are still open. However, this is subject to the following wishes of the President,” Dureza said.
He said that aside from stopping the New People’s Army (NPA)’s collection of revolutionary taxes, President Duterte wanted no coalition government with the communists.
He said the President also wants the talks to take place in the country.
“There will be no coalition government. There will be a stop in the collection of the so-called revolutionary tax. The venue of the talks will be local. There will be a ceasefire agreement in which armed NPA members are encamped in designated areas,” Dureza said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the President made clear his directives that the government’s doors will remain open for the peace talks during the joint command conference with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines last Wednesday.
“The President said that the doors remain open for the peace talks between the government and the CPP-NPA as long the conditions are met that the (talks) will be in the country; (the NPA will) cease to collect revolutionary taxes; that the leaders and members will be encamped in an area during the talks. During this time, the government will take care of the needs of the CPP-NDF-NPA leaders and members.
“So, if the CPP-NPA will abide with these conditions, the peace talks will continue,” Roque said in a press briefing at Malacañang.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), on the other hand, claimed Dureza lied in his statements that the doors are still open for peace negotiations.
The CPP branded Dureza’s statements as “a desperate PR stunt.”
The CPP said Dureza’s statements do not make any mention of Duterte’s issuing Presidential Proclamation 360 on Nov. 23, 2017 which formally terminated peace negotiations with the NDF.
“This proclamation has never been rescinded. Just a few weeks ago, Duterte also derailed efforts to resume talks by cancelling its scheduled resumption,” the CPP said.
NDF peace panel chairman Fidel Agcaoili earlier said the rebels did not demand a coalition government.?The CPP said Duterte’s insistence to hold the peace talks in Manila is non-negotiable.
Dureza said that in the meantime, localized peace arrangements may be pursued by local government units with the insurgents in their respective areas of responsibility.?“This way forward in the stalled peace talks was decided following the consolidation of various positions expressed during the command conference … in Malacañang,” Dureza said.?Dureza said the President also expressed his wish that Norway continue as facilitator in the event peace talks are resumed.
Roque added the government will support localized peace talks with the rebels.
Roque said the Cabinet’s security cluster will meet again on July 12 to finalize the guidelines for localized peace talks.
The Department of National Defense (DND) is also supporting the holding of localized peace talks with the communist guerrillas.
Defense spokesman Arsenio Andolong said that for the past 50 years, the government has been reaching out to the CPP-NDF leadership to solve the country’s insurgency problem peacefully but nothing happened.
“Instead of talking to these people in the Netherlands, it’s better we’ll do it (peace talks with the local NPA leaders) here in the Philippines for us to really know and resolve the concerns of those who have gone astray,” Andolong said.
CPP-NDF leaders in the Netherlands under the leadership of Jose Ma. Sison had been insisting the peace talks be conducted on neutral ground outside of the Philippines.
In pushing for the localized peace talks directly with the NPA, defense and military officials said the CPP-NDF will be disenfranchised.
“This will render them (Sison and Agcaoili) irrelevant,” a senior intelligence official said.
Meanwhile, three NPA rebels were killed by government forces in Jose Panganiban, Camarines Sur yesterday.
Capt. Joash Pramis, spokesman for the Army’s 9th Infantry Division in Bicol, said fighting broke out when troops encountered the rebels in a remote area in Barangay Sta. Cruz. – With Alexis Romero, Jaime Laude, Celso Amo, Emmanuel Tupas, Artemio Dumlao