Joma on resumption of peace talks: We are ready

FILE: Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison said they are ready to resume peace negotiations with the Philippine government which was halted in 2017. (Photo by Briant de los Santos via Joma Sison/Facebook)

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison said they are ready to resume peace negotiations with the Philippine government which was halted in 2017.

Sison’s statement came after President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his readiness to return to the negotiating table with the communist rebels on Tuesday, April 3.

“We in the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) welcome the recent statement of President Rodrigo Duterte in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro expressing openness and readiness to resume the GRP-NDFP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines-National Democratic Front of the Philippines] peace negotiations,” Sison said in a statement.

“We are likewise open and ready to resume the peace negotiations and expect the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels to meet as soon as possible in order to make a significant advance on the basis of the drafts prepared on October 4, 2017,” he added.

Upon announcing this, Sison insisted that the NDFP is “sincere” in engaging peace talks with the government comprehensive agreements on social, economic, and political reforms “to address the roots of the armed conflict and lay the basis of a just and lasting peace as well as corollary agreements to amnesty and release all political prisoners and to have coordinated unilateral ceasefires to start the enjoyment of peace.”

Sison hoped that through this development, they can make “steady and significant advances” in realizing peace in accordance with the public’s demand for “full independence, democracy, social justice, economic development, and cultural progress.”

The President yesterday announced his willingness to negotiate with the rebels if it would stop its extortion activities and attacks.

“First time ko ito nagsalita (It is my first time to talk) since Sison is always mentioning about the peace process. I am ready. First thing is we should stop killing each other. Then if we can have peace; and if you do not have the money, government will subsidize it,” Duterte said in a speech during the inauguration of the Lisap bridge in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.

Duterte added that he would be happy if the government and the communist rebels would both agree to have a ceasefire.

He also urged the rebels to halt collecting revolutionary tax as well as harassing businessmen.

“Hintuan ninyo ang revolutionary government, huwag na kayong mag-sunog in the name of taxation kasi kakaawa ‘yung mga negosyante (Stop the revolutionary government, do not start a fire in the name of taxation because businessmen are pitiful),” the Chief Executive stressed.

“Number one is ceasefire, no taxation, at ceasefire na labas-pasok para makapaggawa ako ng maraming ganito (and in and out ceasefire for me to build more) bridge all over the country,” he added.

Duterte on November 23 last year signed Proclamation No. 360, which terminates the negotiations with the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA)-NDFP. This was followed by a proclamation declaring CPP-NPA as terrorist organizations on December 5, 2017.