Norway may still have role in peace talks – Roque

DAVAO CITY – Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque clarified on Tuesday that the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) may still serve as third-party facilitator in the peace talks between the Philippine government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

In a press briefing in Cotabato City on Tuesday, Roque said all third parties who have been involved in the previous peace talks and who would want to continue to be involved may still participate.

But he reiterated that President Rodrigo R. Duterte wanted that the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations resume in the Philippines.

It was earlier reported that the two parties will be resuming the talks in Oslo, Norway on June 28 to 31, after backchannel talks in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

“Ang ini-emphasize ko lang ay yung pagnanais ng ating presidente na sa Pilipinas gawin po ang usapin (What I was emphasizing yesterday was the desire of the President to hold it here) but a third party facilitator does not have to be abroad to facilitate the peace talks,” he said.

Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (PAPP) Jesus Dureza said the Norwegian government has remained patient, resilient and steadfast in its help to the Filipino people despite the challenges in the peace process with the communists.

“I am now in Oslo, Norway to attend an International Forum on Conflict Mediation and to express our country’s gratitude for Norway’s significant and continuing support to the long drawn peace negotiations with the Left. I am also here to explain to them the reason why the planned resumption of the peace talks, discussed during backchannel meetings, was reset,” he said.

But in a statement, Rey Claro Casambre, a consultant of NDFP who is also executive director of the Philippine Peace Center, said insisting on holding the talks in the Philippines would be tantamount to calling off the negotiations.

“The clear and simple reason is that there is no way peace talks held in the Philippines can be protected and spared from sabotage by the spoilers and enemies of a genuine peace process – those who oppose meaningful reforms that would alter the status quo in favor of the greater majority of the population,” he said.

Casambre added NDFP would never agree to hold the peace talks in the Philippines and the previously signed agreements between both parties, which have been followed for 26 years, state the peace talks must be held at a foreign neutral venue.

He said government throws the “entire peace negotiation into a darker cloud of uncertainty, threatening even to derail the talks permanently” when it postponed the supposed resumption of the negotiations.

Casambre also said that it was unlikely that Duterte had not been apprised of the development of the backchannel talks that resulted in the signing of an initial set of documents, including the interim peace agreement and standdown order.

“These documents, after all, have been at least three months in the making, with the GRP negotiating panel constantly requesting breaks to check and countercheck with their principals if they are still in line with their marching orders,” Casambre added.