Duterte to hold talks with communist group officials
President Rodrigo Duterte has said he may meet with two members of the National Democratic Front (NDF) despite the collapse of peace negotiations between the government and the communist group.
Duterte said Luis Jalandoni and Fidel Agcaoili will fly to the Philippines despite the possibility that they may be captured.
The president made the announcement on Saturday night during the first Subaraw biodiversity festival in Palawan.
“Agcaoili and Jalandoni — I will not keep it a secret. They will go here and they want to talk with me. Their problem is, they might be captured,” Duterte said.
“I said, I will catch you. He said, they want to talk with me. So, I called for a cluster military meeting. So, what do you think?” Duterte said.
“They said, maybe. Maybe. It’s not a very big margin there. But that is still unsure. So, when I go back after Papua New Guinea and Singapore, I will make the announcement. So, we just talk,” he added.
Duterte will go to Papua New Guinea and Singapore this week to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation and Association of South East Asian Nations summit.
Jalandoni was the NDF’s former chief negotiator while Agcaoili was the chairman of the peace panel.
Agcaoili yesterday confirmed his planned trip to the Philippines this month.
He said he would be joined by Jalandoni and his wife, Consuelo Ledesma.
In a statement, Agcaoili said they will be flying to Manila to discuss their work as component members of the joint monitoring committee under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (Carhrihl).
“We welcome the opportunity to meet with the president, unless he does not want to or his military is against it,” he said.
Agcaoili said they were also invited to meet with Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines Bjorn Jahnsen.
In November last year, Duterte terminated peace negotiations with the NDF and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) after a series of verbal wars with exiled CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, the chief political consultant of the NDF.
Shortly after, the president signed a proclamation declaring the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as terrorist groups.
In April this year, Duterte said he wants to give the communists another chance. Peace negotiations were supposed to resume in June in Oslo, Norway but the president suddenly pulled out, saying peace talks should be held in the country and all agreements with the NDF/CPP should be reviewed.
This decision again incensed Sison, who said Duterte was not serious in pursuing peace talks.
On Saturday, the president again called on communist rebels to give up and at the same time kept hope for the peace talks alive.
“You (New Peoples’ Army)… It’s time for you to surrender. I have said, nothing is absolute. By the grace of God, in two years we may have peace,” Duterte said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines had earlier proposed the creation of a task force to squash the communist insurgency in the country. Last month, Duterte ordered the military to neutralise NPA members.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had expressed opposition to reviving the peace talks with the communist rebels, saying they plotted to oust the president.