Aquino, Arroyo present at Duterte’s NSC meeting

Up for discussion: Sea feud, peace talks with all rebels, illegal drugs

Former President Benigno C. Aquino III ignores his predecesor Gloria Arroyo in first national security meeting

FOR the first time, President Rodrigo Duterte met yesterday with the National Security Council (NSC) to tackle the country’s next steps on vital issues, including the ruling of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea dispute.

The first NSC meeting came after former president Fidel Ramos accepted Duterte’s offer to go to China and start the diplomatic dialogue over the tribunal’s decision.

Following the international court’s ruling that China has no basis to claim rights on the disputed maritime features, the President sought to address the issue in a diplomatic approach.

The NSC is a collegial body chaired by the President and composed of around 35 leader-members from the Executive and Legislative branches.

Duterte’s predecessor, former president Benigno C. Aquino III, attended the conference. It was his first time to return to Malacañang after he stepped down from office last June 30.

It was an awkward moment for Aquino to finally meet again his political nemesis and predecessor, then-president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in the NSC meeting held in Malacañang yesterday.

A video uploaded by state-run Radio-Television Malacañang on Facebook showed President Duterte was seen shaking hands with Ramos. Arroyo afterwards shook the hand of Ramos.

When Aquino arrived, he shook hands with Duterte and Ramos but not with Arroyo.

Two seats apart

The photo sent by Communications Secretary Martin Andanar also showed that Aquino and Arroyo were two seats apart, with Ramos and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, also a former president, in between them.

Arroyo was released from hospital detention last week after the Supreme Court dismissed the plunder charge against her.

Also present were former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, Vice President Leni Robredo, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, and other leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In a photo sent by Communications Secretary Martin Andanar to reporters, Ramos and Estrada were seated in between Aquino and Arroyo.

The 35-member council was expected to be given an overview of the “Road Map for Peace and Development” by Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Jesus Dureza.

The roadmap, Dureza said, aims to address issues with various radical groups, with an effort to install a federal type of government.

In August, the national government is set to meet with the leaders of Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army (NPA), and National Democratic Front in Oslo, Norway to resume the peace talks.

Coverage

“This (Road Map to Peace) will cover our engagements with the Bangsamoro and the CPP-NPA-NDF, and then, of course, our effort to do closure to the agreements with the other rebel groups, like the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army and the RBB,” Dureza earlier said.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Isidro Lapeña would also give an update on the administration’s intensified campaign against illicit drugs. (Ruth Abbey Gita/Sunnex)