The exiled communist leader said the Duterte government’s move to pursue localized peace talks categorically made the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace talks elusive.
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief consultant Jose Maria Sison
welcomed the remark of President Rodrigo Duterte expressing openness of his administration to resume peace negotiations with the communist rebels.
With the delay of the resumption of the negotiations, a church leader said it is up to the Duterte administration to “salvage” the peace talks between the government and the communists.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is poised to recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte the termination of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), AFP spokesperson Col. Edgard Arevalo said on Tuesday.
The Department on Justice (DOJ) wants the cancellation of the temporary liberty granted by the courts to detained National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultants and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leaders after the talks between them and the government fell in limbo.
Apprehensive that the re-scheduling of the peace talks could further result to the escalation of the armed conflict and dislocation of civilians especially in the countryside, Mindanao multi-sectoral leaders have asked the Duterte administration to push for the resumption of the negotiation and to “do all the necessary steps and forward reforms that would end poverty in all forms.”
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) stood its ground that the peace negotiations with the government of the Philippines (GRP) be held in a neutral venue abroad and the validity of agreements since 1992 be upheld, NDFP Chief Political Consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison asserted on Thursday.
A tribal leader has expressed his dismay over the resetting of the peace talks between the Duterte administration and the communist rebels saying the indigenous peoples (IPs) of Mindanao are the first victims of the ongoing armed conflict being waged by the guerrillas against the government.
Having stayed the scheduled resumption of the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front supposed to happen on June 15, President Rodrigo Duterte changed tone and wanted the negotiations to continue in the Philippines.
Pres. Rodrigo Duterte called off the scheduled resumption of peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines on June 28 in Oslo, Norway.
