Accident in Cambodia: Possible peace with the NPA in a genuine unity government
AGOOD friend of the Filipino people, former Premier-Prince Norodom Ranariddh of Cambodia, son of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, and elder half-brother of the current King Norodom Sihamoni, met a terrible car accident on the Cambodia highway where his wife, Ouk Palla, a classical dancer, perished, and he was brought to a hospital in Bangkok where doctors believe he will pull through.
My wife Gina, Vicky Ablan, widow of the late Rep. Roque Ablan, Maridee Rodriguez, wife of Rep. Jun Rodriguez of Rizal, and designers Ivy and Cynthia Almario, Elizabeth Nakpil, Chona Ampil, Bibi Yu, and Felipe Cruz III, who were attending a meeting in Bangkok visited the Prince, who was a former co-prime minister with Premier Hun Sen in 1993-1997. After 30 years, Hun Sen is still ruling Cambodia today as premier.
Prince Ranariddh, a co-founder of our International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) which we founded in Manila in 2000, has returned to politics. He must be at least 73 or 74, was president of the National Assembly for several years and was a professor in France. We talked over the phone with Princess Marie and daughter Princess Rattana, who is married to a Frenchman, and they said Prince Ranariddh will likely recover. We are praying that when Prince Ranariddh returns to health, he and Princess Marie could remarry and the Cambodian people would no doubt be cheering the reunion.
Premier Hun Sen is running for reelection and will certainly win and the National Election Committee of Cambodia invited us last week, as chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and of the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), to head the team of International election observers for the July 27-31 election and counting period, and we are inclined to accept.
There are valid criticisms of the government but it is also obvious that in the economic realm, the country has gained a lot of ground. With the economy spurred by the muscular performance of the construction, tourism, and garment sectors, and a growing diversification into electronics and auto parts, the Asian Development Bank has estimated growth at 7.1%.
ICAPP just founded a subsidiary, the Asian Cultural Council (ACC), with active Cambodian parliamentarian Sous Yara as secretary-general, with its aim to promote and preserve cultural heritage in Asia, exemplified by Cambodia’s meticulous preservation of the popular tourist attraction Angkor Wat, a temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world, declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
The UNESCO and ACC, to be based in Phnom Penh, will shortly sign an MOU to jointly promote culture as an auxiliary activity of political parties and governments. In this regard, with Deputy Premier Hor Namhong ailing, he gave up his seat as one of the vice chairmen in ICAPP in favor of the active Cambodian woman leader Khuon Sudary.
It is admirable that US President Donald Trump, as a businessman, a well-known deal maker, has achieved a breakthrough in fast-moving the peace talks with the young North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who was in his first foray in international peace negotiations held successfully in Singapore. Although just a few weeks earlier, the young Kim, a little less than half Trump’s age, had two rapid fruitful talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-In in Korea’s Demilitarized Zone at the 38th Parallel.
The negotiations between the US, North Korea, and South Korea will now move into more detailed discussions in the coming weeks and months, encouraged by the high achievement of their principals. But among those who understand the complexities of realpolitik, the negotiations could run for several years but piecemeal or partial agreements could be arrived at and could already be implemented if willed by both sides.
Which brings us to the long-anticipated resumption of the peace talks between the Philippine Government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front (NDFP), following back-channel talks in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and with the support of the Norwegian government as third party facilitator.
We are reminded that in 1987, a year after Cory Aquino became president, she boldly declared a 60-day ceasefire which was well-received at home and abroad as a prelude to peace talks with the CPP-NPANDF although little progress was made until her chosen successor, President Fidel Ramos, established an amnesty and negotiation process in 1992, which we helped put together at the time.
Over the years, as speaker of the House, we journeyed to The Netherlands to confer with our friend Jose Ma. Sison and our classmate in La Salle High School Luis Jalandoni. Able negotiators like then Justice Secretary now Labor Secretary Bebot Bello, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jess Dureza, both still in the forefront of peace-making today, the late Ambassador to the Holy See Howard Dee, the late Rep. Apeng Yap, and notable others have worked tirelessly, leading to the last five basic agreements, excluding the supplementals, signed between the government and the NDF.
The Norwegian government has admirably served over the years as facilitator and provided the venue for the talks in Oslo. For 26 years, on NDF request, the peace talks have been held in a foreign neutral venue, although there is increasing clamor today for the talks to be also tried at home.
In ICAPP, we visited Nepal a couple of times over the years to help encourage the long-drawn-out peace talks in Kathmandu, Nepal, in the foothills of Mount Everest and the Himalayas. The two organizations of the Communist bloc there, the Marxist Party and the Maoist Party, have lately reunited, and the rival Congress Party, which has ties with India, have propelled the country forward and the country is largely at peace today, and even as a relatively small nation tucked in between two giants, India and China, has successfully updated its government into a federal state.
We are visiting Kathmandu in the third week of July to meet with the reelected popular Premier K.P. Sharma Oli of the recently combined CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Maoist-Leninist Party) to prepare the agenda for the joint Asia-Pacific meeting on November 21-23 of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) led by Dr. Thomas Walsh and the founder’s active and far-sighted widow, Madame Hak Ja Han Moon of South Korea, and the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP) with the conference theme “Addressing the Critical Challenges of our Time: Inter-dependence, Mutual Prosperity, and Cultural Values.” We have the privilege to co-chair IAPP with the 30-year veteran, former senior US Congressman Dan Burton. Its last successful meeting was in Washington DC, partly held in the premises of the US Senate building.
We hope as in Nepal, whose Communist leaders, by the way, remember our friend Joma Sison, our brother Filipino Communists could now move to finalize a peace pact with the Duterte government, secure at least two seats in the Cabinet, demobilize the New People’s Army, and integrate some of their members in the Armed Forces, secure jobs and farmland for their cadres, and to the applause of the Filipino people bring peace, and truly participate in a long-awaited Philippine Government of National Unity.
This is “consummation devoutly to be wished,” long awaited by our anxious people.