Bello: 60 days for peace talks doable
The government peace panel sees the peace negotiations with communist rebels grinding within 60 days as President Duterte wants.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who also serves as government panel chair, over the weekend said his team is making preparations for the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF).
Bello told that the members of the peace panel met last Friday to discuss preparations and other issues concerning the continuation of negotiations.
“We met and the timetable given by the President is doable,” Bello said.
Bello declined to reveal other details.
“Secret muna (It’s a secret for now),” he said, adding that the panel has yet to determine the venue and exact date for the peace negotiations.
Bello earlier said that the panel would review the interim joint ceasefire agreement forged between the NDF and the government panels.
He said the agreement would be revised to address the concerns of both panels.
The agreement, which provides for the formation of a Joint Ceasefire Committee and the prospective role of a third party
in the ceasefire monitoring and other ceasefire mechanisms, had yet to be enforced when Duterte cancelled the peace negotiations.
Bello said the ceasefire agreement will have to be tackled prior to the resumption of peace negotiations.
The chief peace negotiatior, however, branded as “fake news” reports that a member of the panel is flying to the Netherlands soon for backchannel talks with the NDF.
Bello said there was no precondition set by the NDF for the resumption of talks.
Last week, Duterte ordered the government peace panel to work on the resumption of peace talks with the NDF after the House of Representatives approved Resolution No. 1803 calling for restart of the negotiations.
Resumption of talks lauded
A group of religious leaders advocating peace yesterday lauded the decision of Duterte to resume peace talks with communist rebels.
The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) is hopeful that the planned resumption of peace talks between the NDF of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the government would result in positive developments this time around.
“As leaders of churches in the country, we appreciate these developments, especially after we have lamented President Duterte’s signing of Proclamation No. 360, formally terminating the peace talks last November; and the government’s subsequent declaration of the CPP-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as terrorist organizations,” the PEPP said in a statement.
“We hope that the atmosphere for the resumption of the stalled talks will continue to spread positively, especially after we have celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace,” it added.
With this, the PEPP called on both parties to resume the formal peace talks, through the third party facilitation of the Royal Norwegian Government.
It also appealed for the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and for both camps to respect previously signed agreements. –