“Maybe the timeline of the President will be achieved. one year”, Silvestre Bello III, chief of the government panel, told Rappler on the sidelines of the talks.
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Philippine Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza said last week that the Oslo talks were expected to tackle “social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, end of hostilities and disposition of forces, a ceasefire, joint security and immunity and the release of political detainees”.
“The enabling environment brought about by this “silencing of the guns” will hopefully go a long way in bringing about an expeditious and early resolution to our differences and aspirations that have long divided us as a people”, he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office on June 30, has made the resumption of talks with the rebels one of his top priorities.
He has even floated the possibility of forming a coalition government with them.
I say again: “the Duterte government will walk the extra mile for peace”, he added.
For the first time in 30 years, founding Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Chairman Jose Maria Sison huddled under roof with three other guerilla leaders who – according to the military, once served as party chairman – Benito Tiamzon, Allan Jasmines, and Rafael Baylosis.
The CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), said in a statement that the ceasefire was declared “to celebrate and bolster” the resumption of formal negotiations between their political arm the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the government. The success of the talks en route to a viable peace accord between the two governments in the Philippines rests in the main on GPH’s-especially the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police and their paramilitaries’-adherence to previous agreements and the serious deliberation of the roots of the civil war.
The meeting kicked off in Oslo on Monday, two days after both sides agreed to a ceasefire and several years after a similar meeting was stalled amid disagreements between the two parties.
Some of those rebels flew to Oslo to take part in the negotiations, which are due to wrap up on Friday.
Duterte had declared a unilateral government ceasefire during his first state of the union address July 25, only to call it off days later after an ambush by NPA members killed a government militiaman in southern Davao del Norte province.
The government has said its ceasefire will last for as long as necessary to bring peace.
Last week, 17 captured communist guerrilla leaders in the Philippines were freed so they could attend peace talks next week in Norway.
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However, this would only be possible after the government freed all 550 guerrillas detained by the government, the rebels said.
