Joma tones down tirade vs. Duterte, welcomes new prospect for talks

Jan. 05, 2019

Communist of the Philippines founding chairman Prof. Jose Maria Sison and President Rodrigo Duterte (davaotoday.com)

DAVAO CITY,Philippines — 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.

Less than a month after Duterte ordered the military and police to “destroy” the communist group, he now said that he did not totally shut the door for peace talks with them.

“Ngayon di na kami magkaintindihan ni Sison, pero I’d like you to know we are keeping the fire burning and hindi puwedeng sarahan. You cannot afford to lose all channels of communication. Mag-iwan ka talaga maski maliit,” Duterte said on Friday, Jan. 5, during a situation briefing on the aftermath of tropical depression Usman in Pili, Camarines Sur.

Despite NDFP’s determination for Duterte’s ouster, Sison said that it is the consistent policy of the NDFP to be open to peace negotiations with the Duterte government.

“Enemies need peace negotiations before they can become friends or partners for the sake of the Filipino people who desire social, economic and political reforms as basis for a just and lasting peace,” Sison said in a statement.

“Thus, I welcome the statement of Duterte that he is still open to peace negotiations even as there is still an exchange of hostile words in the mass media and exchange of bullets in the battlefield,” Sison said.

Sison pointed out: “It is for the benefit of the people that the peace negotiations resume and stop the Duterte regime from proclaiming martial law nationwide, from calling off or rigging the May 2019 elections and from pursuing the scheme to impose a fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people via charter change for a bogus kind of federalism.”

Both GRP-NDFP peace negotiators was already in the stage of forging of agreements on social and political reforms, when Duterte terminated the peace talks, on November 2018, thru Proclamation No. 360.

President Duterte, in a speech in Compostela Valley, on Dec.22, told the military to “destroy” the CPP including its “legal front organizations”.

On December, the CPP also ordered its armed wing, New Peoples Army (NPA) to intensify its tactical offensive across the country in response to the extension of martial law in Mindanao. (davaotoday.com)

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