Philippines, communist rebels resume peace talks in Rome

Presidential adviser says government is optimistic ‘with managed expectations’

Philippine negotiators and communist guerrillas were set to resume peace talks in Rome yesterday, with the Maoist insurgents warning that alleged government violations of an accord on human rights may prompt them to end a monthlong ceasefire.

The presidential adviser to the talks, Jesus Dureza, said the government is optimistic “with managed expectations” about the resumption of the Norwaybrokered negotiations in the Italian capital.

“These issues, although difficult, are surmountable with both sides sharing common aspirations for peace,” Dureza said in a statement.

Rebel chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili was less optimistic, saying the guerrillas have raised a number of complaints, including alleged government breaches of a 1998 accord on respecting human rights and another pact on the safety of Pope Francis will bless the Philippines and its leader Rodrigo Duterte, an aide to the president has said.

“When I had the opportunity of kissing the hand of the Pope, I said, ‘Bless the Philippines, Your Holiness,’ and his answer was, ‘Yes, I will also bless your president,” presidential adviser Jesus Dureza said in a video clip at St. Peter’s Square, shown on television on Thursday.

Dureza was in Rome ahead of peace talks between the government and Philippine Maoist rebels. He met Pope Francis at the Vatican and delivered a letter from Duterte thanking him for his 2015 visit to the Philippines, which has Asia’s biggest Catholic population.

Duterte famously called the Pope a “son of a [expletive]” for causing traffic snarl-ups at that time. He has since apologised and said his remark was aimed at incompetent officials. guerrilla consultants. Agcaoili said the complaints, including the failure to release nearly 400 detainees the rebels consider political prisoners, made extending a five-month ceasefire “untenable.”

The guerrillas also expressed concern over President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, which have left thousands of drug suspects dead, and his decision to allow the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a heroes’ cemetery in November, Agcaoili said.

Innocent people have been killed in Duterte’s crackdown “due to brutal, reckless and indiscriminate methods employed by the police in its antidrug operations,” Agcaoili said. Duterte must shift his priority to solving the larger problem of poverty through social and economic reforms, which are the main focus of this week’s round of talks, he said.

The guerrillas have accused government troops of violating a ceasefire by occupying schools, village halls and other civilian areas and conducting illegal searches, questionings and surveillance of suspected rebel supporters. The military has denied the allegations.