By Manuel T. Cayon / Mindanao Bureau Chief
DAVAO CITY—The peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF) would proceed as scheduled despite the botched cease-fire initially declared by Malacañang, the government’s chief negotiator said on Tuesday.
“The talks are on as scheduled from August 20 to 27 [in Oslo, Norway],” the government’s chief negotiator Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III told the government-ran dxRP Radyo ng Bayan.
He said the team would be accompanied by Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus G. Dureza.
“There is no negative effect on the talks,” he said, when President Duterte lifted the unilateral ceasefire he declared on during his July 25 State of the Nation Address.
Bello said the cease-fire was “just to show [the NDF] that the government has trust on them, that we have to continue to talk so that we will have lasting peace.”
“The cease-fire has no direct connection with the peace talks. It’s about giving confidence-building measure that, while we are talking, there are no fighting,” he said.
Bello also welcomed the announcement of NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni that the NDF was about to declare its own ceasefire on August 20, on the first day of the formal talks. “It means that the President is sincere and that they have to make the same move.”
The negotiations would proceed from the last talks they had on 2004, when both panels were able to agree to the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and Respect for International Humanitarian Law. The next rounds would try to come up also with the respective comprehensive agreements on socioeconomic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and end of hostilities and disposition of forces.
The upbeat mood would still open the possibility of bringing the talks to the country, “even in Davao City. That’s part of our plan,” he said.
Peace groups, such as the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), the largest alliance of church federations in the Philippines, has commended both parties for the resumption of the peace talks.
“The PEPP strongly encourages the NDFP to reciprocate the gesture toward peace by also declaring a unilateral cease-fire to show a common commitment to establish the conditions for the resumption of the formal peace talks,” it said.
The group added that it has keenly watched the development of the talks since it “journeyed with the government-NDF peace talks since 2007 and recognizes the challenges of pursuing peace that seeks to address the root causes of this conflict that has gone on for 46 years.”
The PEPP urged both parties “to uphold their determination to continue the pursuit of peace, trusting that lasting peace is possible.”
“They should not allow mistrust to deter or defeat this new beginning that is providing so much hope to our nation and people. Let our hearts be open to the understanding that we need each other in the pursuit of peace that is the fruit of trust and justice,” it added.
The July 30 statement was signed by Cagayan de Oro Catholic Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma and National Council of Churches in the Philippines Fr. Rex RB Reyes Jr. Both are the cochairmen of the PEPP.
Four other Catholic and Protestant bishops signed the statement.
Meanwhile, the New People’s Army released a video clip of one of its prisoners of war, Police Chief Inspector Arnold S. Ongachen, who it took as prisoner when the NPA raided the police station of Gov. Generoso town of Davao Oriental.
In the video clip, Ongachen has asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines “to cease their military operations and make way for peace talks “that has long been the clamor of our countrymen. I hope that we give peace talks a chance so that we would know and understand why our fellow Filipinos are taking up arms against our government.”