“Finally, formal resumption of peace talks with CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)/NPA(New People’s Army)/NDF”, Dureza said in the caption of a photograph of the joint statement released online.
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Signing the agreement for the government panel were Silvestre Bello 3rd, the incoming secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment as well as Duterte’s chief peace negotiator; Jesus Dureza, the incoming presidential peace adviser; and Hernani Braganza, a former congressman of Pangasinan province in Northern Luzon, member.
The CPP leader said the exploratory talks enabled them to identify “easy and hard points” that the two panels should hurdle during formal negotiations.
Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has agreed to resume formal peace negotiations with Maoist-led rebels in Oslo next month, one of Duterte’s senior advisers said on Thursday, after the talks stalled four years ago. “For the broader framework to talk about, and to accompany maybe, Jose Maria Sison in coming home”, Duterte said in May.
At the informal meeting in Norway, whose government has acted as a go-between in the talks, the two sides agreed to discuss amnesty for all political prisoners, subject to the approval of the Philippine legislature.
Reconstitution of the Joint Agreement of Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG), allowing NDF consultants and rebel leaders to freely move around the Philippines without the risk of being arrested.
The development is the result of informal talks between Duterte and his advisors, and officials from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Sison, NDF Spokesman Fidel Agcaoili and its negotiating panel chairman Luis Jalandoni.
Ambassador Elisabeth Slattum, special envoy of the Norwegian government to the peace process, also signed the joint statement.
The Duterte government will be the sixth administration to talk with the NDF in a bid to end the communist movement’s armed struggle.
Outgoing President Benigno S.C. Aquino III revived negotiations soon after taking office in 2010 but shelved them in 2013, accusing the rebels of being insincere about finding a political settlement.
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Aside from the GPH-NDF peace talks, Zarate also said that they also welcome the offer of President-elect Duterte for the cabinet positions to the Left.
