MANILA -- A group of church leaders on Wednesday urged President Rodrigo Duterte and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to resume the formal peace talks that was set in late June.
“Let us all pray that both parties continue the principled conversations and realize the compelling need to come to terms with the issue of social and economic justice in the Philippines. We must all work for peace and guard against spoilers, as the popular hymn suggests: Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Let us all proclaim that ‘God is not a God of disorder but of peace – as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people’ (1 Corinthians 14:33),” the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
“As church leaders, we were looking forward to the reported ‘stand down’ ceasefire agreement, which means that both sides will cease conducting offensive military operations to pave the way for the signing of an interim peace agreement. Both the stand down and the interim peace agreements, if followed to the letter, may result in lesser violence and can eventually end (the) further loss of life as a result of the armed conflict,” it added.
It expressed hope that the government’s announcement to postpone the talks would not lead to a further deterioration of the peace process with the NDFP.
Last week, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza announced that the government is not yet ready to resume formal peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) set in Oslo, Norway on June 28-30 to allow the public to engage more in the peace process.
“The decision for the moment is not to resume talks yet,” Dureza said in a Palace press briefing.
He said President Rodrigo Duterte made the instruction during the joint military and police command conference last June 13 to engage the general public, as well as other stakeholders, “in our common effort to make sure that we achieve a conducive and enabling environment for peace.”
“Consequently, the initial timeline that our backchannel team had worked on with their counterparts (CPP/New People’s Army/NDFP) 'across the table' had to be necessarily re-adjusted,” Dureza said.
But Dureza clarified that the talks had not been canceled.
He also said Norway remained the third-party facilitator.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque also stressed that Norway can continue as third party facilitator of the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Communist group.
"Norway can continue to the Philippines (peace negotiations) as a third party facilitator of the peace talks, as mentioned during this (Monday) morning's press briefing,” Roque said in a press statement Monday.
The PEPP is composed of five church institutions/groups, namely, the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines, Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, and Ecumenical Bishops' Forum. (PNA)
