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Sunday, May 28, 2017
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MANILA – The government negotiating panel pulled out from the fifth round of talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) yesterday afternoon (Manila time).
In a statement read by Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza at a press conference in Noordwijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands, the government panel cited several reasons why it withdrew from the negotiations.
One of major setback was the recent public statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) ordering the New People’s Army (NPA) to accelerate attacks against the government following the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
The martial law was “principally directed at extremists and terrorists who openly and defiantly challenge the government and put to harm the Filipino people,” Dureza clarified.
He described CPP’s call to its armed unit as a “defiant, blatant and serious challenge” to the government under President Rodrigo Duterte, despite the gains in the work for peace and despite the personal show of goodwill and trust by the President.
Among the other reasons, Dureza said, were the following:
* increasing offensives of the NPA nationwide
* the seeming perception of the bigger public that the NPA operations were an open and public defiance of the President who had consistently accommodated them in unprecedented ways
* the renewed surfacing of public apprehension questioning the sincerity of the CPP-NPA-NDFP in the peace talks; and
* the public admission of some panel members of the CPP-NPA-NDFP leaders that they have no control over their forces on the ground.
Dureza also mentioned the erosion of public support to the peace talks with strong messages received from the public to altogether stop peace negotiations, and the clamor to pursue localized peace talks instead.
The panel, he said, was left without any recourse but not to proceed with the fifth round of talks until such time “there are clear indications that an enabling environment conducive to achieving a just and sustainable peace.”
The fifth round of negotiations would have tackled the socioeconomic reform agenda.
Both sides are also expected to tackle the parameters of the bilateral ceasefire agreement. (PNA)
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