Duterte allows NDFP chief negotiator to return to PH
Credit to Author: Alexander Magno| Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2019 14:41:21 +0000
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte bared on Tuesday that he would allow Fidel Agcaoili, chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), to return in the Philippines to resume stalled peace talks.
“I think Attorney Agcaoili has sounded off. He was coming again to talk and I told the military and the police just allow him,” Duterte said in a speech during the 9th anniversary of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) in Davao City.
“For after all, we’re on a waiting period about the appropriate time to talk about peace. I am not that cruel,” the President added.
The NDFP, a coalition of leftist organizations, has been representing insurgents in the on-and-off peace talks with the government.
Agcaoili is currently in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He was supposed to return to the Philippines in November 2018, but that trip was canceled as his appointment with Duterte was also postponed, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who heads the government negotiating panel. /atm