Palace: Joma can come home

THE leader of the Philippines’ communist insurgency will be welcome to return home after nearly three decades in exile and participate in peace talks with the government, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque made the assurance after Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison expressed willingness to return to the country to take up President Rodrigo Duterte’s offer to resume stalled peace negotiations between the government and the communist rebel group.

“We will welcome him [Sison] back to the country and to peace talks,” Roque told The

Manila Times in a text message.

Sison, in an online interview with The

Times on Tuesday, said the resumption of the peace negotiations was “highly probable within the last week of June.”

At the same time, the CPP leader said it was also “highly probable” for him to return to the Philippines within the term of the President, noting there are only a “few kinks” that needed to be fixed before the resumption of the scrapped talks.

President Duterte’s term ends in 2022. “There is a basis to be optimistic in that the resumption of formal talks will occur next month and that there shall be an interim peace agreement,” Sison said.

Roque has guaranteed safe passage for Sison when he returns to the country for the peace talks with the government.

He said the government was also willing to pay for the lodging expenses of Sison while he stays in the country.

“The President has said he will take steps to ensure that he can come back to the country,” according to Roque.

“He will guarantee his safety, he will probably even absorb the cost for Joma Sison to come home and participate in the peace talks,” he said.

The President, in his visit to Tabogon, Cebu, on Sunday, reiterated his peace offer to the communist rebel group.

“I have given them the last chance. It’s 60 days, it’s a very small window for us to talk for the last time,” Duterte said in his speech.

Months after terminating the negotiations, the President recently offered a 60- day window for the peace talks between the government and the communist rebels.

Duterte, however, asked the rebels to agree to a ceasefire and halt extortion activities if they want to resume the negotiations.

The President has promised to give Sison, who has been living in exile in The Netherlands since 1987, safe passage and pay for his expenses during his stay in the country.

The peace talks collapsed in November last year after Duterte scored the communist rebels’ continued attacks against state troops despite ongoing negotiations.

The President then moved to declare the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as terrorist organizations.

The Department of Justice has moved to ask the court to formally declare the CPP and the NPA as terrorist organizations.