Peace talks to begin again in the Philippines
Both the Philippine government and the communist rebel movement said the stalled peace process could resume as early as January next year following a series of backdoor talks that culminated in the visit of special government envoy Hernani Braganza to the Mindanao rebel camp of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Surigao del Sur.
Braganza, a member of President Benigno Aquino’s Liberal Party, visited rebel spokesman Jorge Madlos in Surigao del Sur “to follow up” peace talks with the rebel group.
Also meeting him inside the rebel camp is Fidel Agcaoili, member of the National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiating panel.
Braganza’s visit also coincided with the 46th Founding Anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Reports said as many as 5,000 people, most of them rebel supporters and sympathizers, attended the rebel celebration.
NPA guerrillas in Far South Mindanao in formation during the 46th Founding Anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Pic: Edwin Espejo
Both the CPP and its military wing the NPA are members of the NDF, political umbrella of at least 15 other rebel groups.
Madlos said yesterday’s celebration was also a “public consultation” on the possible resumption of peace talks with the government which was suspended in 2011 following the arrests of key rebel leaders and the refusal of the government to release detained communist cadres.
In March last year, CPP chair Benito Tiamzon and wife Wilma were arrested in Cebu City dampening further hopes to the peace process.
In Utrecht, founding CPP chair Jose Maria Sison said the peace talks could resume after the visit of Pope Francis to the country in January.
Pope Francis will visit the country from January 16 to 19.
Sison said on the agenda of the peace talks are political and socio-economic issues and the possibility of a ceasefire while talks are being held.
The latest statement from Sison, who describes himself as chief political consultant of the NDF, is a major deviation from the early hardline stance of the rebel group against a permanent ceasefire while negotiations are ongoing.
However some veteran reporters covering the communist insurgency said time may not be on the side of a negotiated political settlement between the Philippine government and the NDF which has been waging a Maoist-inspired guerrilla warfare for more than four decades already.
Reuters’ Manny Mogato is asking if a time-bound negotiation as demanded by the government will succeed while Dario Agnote of Kyodo News said the warring forces simply distrust each other.
The Philippine insurgency is Asia’s longest running and still active communist rebel movement.
