Exiled Reds’ leaders welcome Duterte’s interest to reopen peace talks
Credit to Author: hniitsu| Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2019 02:49:35 +0000
LUCENA CITY – Exiled communist rebel leaders welcomed, albeit with mixed feelings, President Duterte’s renewed interest to reopen the shelved peace talks.
“The statements of Duterte … are mixed. They carry positive and negative content as well as serious and joking expressions,” Jose Maria Sison, Communist Party of the Philippines founder, said in an online interview from Utrecht in the Netherlands early Wednesday.
“But they seem to be better than entirely hostile and cruel,” he said.
Fidel Agcaoili, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chair and chief peace negotiator, reiterated that the communist rebels “remains open to resuming peace talks with the GRP (government) without preconditions.”
“We are ready to hear more details of this latest offer of the GRP to resume the talks,” Agcaoili, who is also based in Utrecht, said in a separate online interview.
The NDFP is the umbrella group of communist organizations that has been representing the insurgents in the on and off peace negotiations with the government since 1986.
On Tuesday, Duterte revealed that he would allow Agcaoili to return to the Philippines to resume the 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 in Davao City.
“After all, we’re on a waiting period about the appropriate time to talk about peace. I am not that cruel,” the President added.
In November last year, the NDFP leaders had dropped plans to return home to Manila to work for the possible resumption of peace talks with the government due to security concerns. /lzb