Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar. (File photo)
MANILA -- Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar on Friday pinned hope that communist founder Jose Maria Sison would “seriously” consider President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to revive the moribund peace negotiations with the communists.
Andanar made the statement, a day after Duterte designated Labor Secretary Bello III, former head of the now-defunct negotiating peace panel of the government, as a mediator for the possible resumption of peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF).
“With the government's move to send back Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello, who was the chief of the government panel in the negotiations with the Communist Party, to the Netherlands, we are opening the possibility of resuming peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines,” he said.
“We hope in good faith that Mr. José María Sison will seriously reconsider the government’s proposal that will be presented by Secretary Bello,” the Communications chief added.
Sison fled to Europe in self-exile immediately after the communist movement’s peace negotiations under the leadership of the late president Corazon Aquino in 1987.
The communist founder has been in self-exile in the Netherlands for about three decades now.
On Tuesday, Duterte announced that he will be sending Bello to the Netherlands to discuss with Sison the government’s plan to resume the talks with NDF consultants.
The President, however, refused to disclose additional details on the impending meeting between Sison and Bello.
Duterte on Nov. 23, 3017 signed Proclamation 360, which formally scrapped peace talks with the NDF.
The signing of Proclamation 360 was followed by the issuance of Proclamation 374 on Dec. 5, 2017, which classifies the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as terror organizations because of their supposed commission of crimes that are “against the Filipino people, against humanity, and against the law of the nations.”
The CPP-NPA has also been listed as a terror group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Despite this, Duterte in December 2018 signed Executive Order 70, creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and directing local peace bodies to conduct peace talks with communist insurgents in their respective areas.
The national government’s negotiating peace panel led by Bello was dissolved on Mar. 18, 2019, following the stalled peace negotiations with the NDF and the creation of the NTF-ELCAC.
Andanar, who concurrently heads the NTF-ELCAC’s communications, joined the President in the quest to unite all Filipinos, “regardless of differences ideological or otherwise, towards progress and development as one society and one country.”
“We are looking for a peaceful option to end this conflict as these five decades of armed struggle and resistance by the Communist Party against the Philippine Government must eventually come to an end,” he said.
“We are all Filipinos. Our search for all possible avenues to achieve a just and lasting peace on this matter is not so that the government can claim it has won and succeeded, but to show that both groups can co-exist, find common ground, and work together towards building a firm yet peaceful Philippine society, where there is no place for armed conflicts,” he added.
Andanar also guaranteed that the NTF-ELCAC will continue its proactive role in achieving peace in the country.
“As we strive to meet our goals of peace and prosperity, the Task Force's initiatives and successes have contributed highly to the path of achieving the said goals,” he said. (PNA)
