GPH, NDF peace panels now in Oslo
OSLO, Norway — Just 48 hours following their release from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center, top Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leaders, spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, set foot here Sunday in the first leg of the quest for peace that starts today.
Accompanied by National Democratic Front (NDF) lawyer Marie Yuvienco, the Tiamzon couple first arrived at the Schipol Airport, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, after a 14-hour KLM flight from Manila.
Benito Tiamzon, CCP chairman, and Wilma, the party’s secretary general, then travelled with their group and reached this city late afternoon Sunday, Philippine time.
They will lead a contingent of about 30 NDF members who will try to start ironing out with their
Philippine panel counterparts the foundations of a peace deal that could end more than 40 years of armed conflict.
Among those expected to arrive for the talks are the 18 other NDF consultants and political prisoners, who were allowed to post bail by the government so they could participate in the peace negotiations.
The Royal Norwegian government is footing the bill for transportation and lodging of the NDF participants in the talks.
Lawyer Paul Montejo, chairman of the Philippine panel’s working group on releases, said the Tiamzons and the other NDF consultants, who were allowed to post bail, will remain free throughout the duration of the peace process, and not just for the duration of next week’s formal resumption of the talks.
However, in not posing any objections to the release of the political prisoners, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) laid down certain conditions.
For the duration of the peace negotiations in Oslo, the released political prisoners should report to the Philippine embassy or consulate “whenever required.”
“That the DOJ and OSG did not oppose the bail application (of the political prisoners), that was a very big help so that the peace talks could start,” Montejo acknowledged.