Exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison said on Sunday that he agreed to have “serious conversations” with President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I welcome the positive statement of President Duterte that he would like to converse with me one on one,” Sison said, responding to the proposal Duterte made during an exclusive sit-down interview with MindaNews.
The President said he wants to have a private conversation with Sison, sparking hopes for the resumption of negotiations to end Asia’s stubborn communist insurgency.
Sison said that Duterte’s suggestion to a one-on-one talk “is more important that his still angry words.”
“In the interest of the Filipino people and for the sake and purpose of resuming the peace negotiations, I am willing to have serious conversations with President Duterte,” the CPP founder said.
“It would indeed be a waste if we would not interface even once, considering the success of the four rounds of formal talks since 2016,” he added.
The Chief Executive desired but failed to complete a peace agreement with the communist rebels in the second year of his administration. The Philippine government called off the peace talks again in November 2017.
Duterte also signed Proclamation No. 374 in December 2017, declaring the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as terrorist groups. In the same month, Duterte also mentioned the alleged atrocities committed by the NPA when he requested Congress to extend Martial Law in Mindanao.
Considering their mutual convenience and sense of prudence, Sison said he and Duterte can meet in a neighboring country of the Philippines.
“In this regard, the chairmen of the [government and National Democratic Front] negotiating panels can agree on the arrangements. After the resumption of the peace negotiations, I can go to the Philippines for my first visit after a long time,” he said.
Sison, who is chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) that represents rebels in peace talks, was once Duterte’s college professor at the Lyceum of the Philippine University in Manila.
The CPP leader has been living in exile in The Netherlands for decades after his Philippine passport was cancelled in 1987 under President Corazon Aquino.