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Duterte, NDF will defeat spoilers: peace negotiator

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Inday Espina-Varona, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation2/07/08/pres-duterte_070816.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">President Duterte gives a statement during a press conference naming top drug lords operating in the country and other persons of interest at the Malacanan Palace on Thursday. Malacanang Photo</div></figcaption></figure></div>The National Democratic Front (NDF) will work with President Rodrigo Duterte to fend off threats to peace talks, including plots by criminal gangs and displaced politicians seeking the new leader’s early ouster.“Meron siyang political will, meron din naman kaming political will, (He has political will and so does the NDF.),” NDF negotiator Fidel Agcaoili told ABS-CBNNews.Agcaoili cited Duterte’s message during turnover rites for the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as proof of his commitment to pursue the resolution of half a century of conflict between the state and the leftist underground movement.The appointment of progressives to key Cabinet posts, and the government negotiators’ affirmation of previously forged agreements with the NDF, would also jumpstart the on-and-off peace talks, he added.“The problem are the spoilers,” the NDF official pointed out. “Bahala na yun. (We’ll see about that.) Both of us together can meet the spoilers,” he stressed.<figure class="op-social"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B79x7XY5JG0?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" width="510"></iframe></figure>The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has ordered members to launch a nationwide education campaign on the promise of peace talks and the threats that face Duterte’s vision of ending Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.Its latest issue of Ang Bayan, released Wednesday, said member organizations should step up mass campaigns to buoy discussions on social and economic reforms.The CPP also said it would launch, as Duterte suggested, a <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/07/01/16/duterte-urges-communists-to-target-drug-traffickers" target="_blank">campaign against illegal drugs</a>.“The New People’s Army will implement the central committee’s mandate to disarm and arrest the worst criminals, including the biggest dealers of narcotics and bring them to judgment and the appropriate punishment,” the CPP said in its latest dispatch sent to journalists.Duterte recently bared the identities of police officers linked to the biggets drug syndicates.Duterte’s supporters have hailed the prospect of guerrillas joining the anti-drug campaign. Critics, however, warned the President of making the NPA a proxy in the government’s campaign. They have also cautioned against shortcuts, including extra-judicial killings.Rebels in the Davao region <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/regions/06/02/16/duterte-to-leave-fate-of-davao-oriental-cop-to-npa-rebels" target="_blank">seized a police commander</a> in a raid during the campaign period. Duterte had initially requested a swift turnover but apparently changed his tune when informed that rebels had seized a big narcotics stash and an amount of cash beyond what a police officer can afford.In calling for an offensive against drug lords, the CPP said the biggest dealers are senior police and military officers and some local government executives.“The NPA is ready to battle any armed force that tries to resist arrest,” Ang Bayan said.STRONG MESSAGE<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Great news from Oslo, Norway on the resumption of formal peace talks and release of political prisoners! <a href="https://t.co/UgMhwoQSMs">pic.twitter.com/UgMhwoQSMs</a>— Renato Reyes, Jr. (@natoreyes) <a href="https://twitter.com/natoreyes/status/743197733591277568">June 15, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="~//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>Agcaoili said the joint declaration released last month by Duterte’s then-interim peace panel and NDF counterparts affirmed 12 major agreements signed over 22 years of on-and-off talks.The most important, and points of contention with former President Benigno Aquino III’s government, were The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).Duterte’s transition camp initially sent out mixed signals on prospects for peace talks following his proclamation as winner of the 2016 elections.The new Chief Executive, however, set a clear tone during his June 30 oath-taking.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">President Rodrigo Roa Duterte meets with multi-sectoral groups at the Osmeña Room of the Kalayaan Hall in Malacañang <a href="https://t.co/6t5ckqLMVg">pic.twitter.com/6t5ckqLMVg</a>— RTVMalacanang (@RTVMalacanang) <a href="https://twitter.com/RTVMalacanang/status/748411997264310272">June 30, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="~//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>Inviting leaders of militant organizations massed on the historic Mendiola protest bridge to a meeting in Malacanang, Duterte encouraged them to pursue exposés on corruption and other forms of injustice.Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes, Jr. said the President also pledged to stop the traditional State of the Nation Address (SONA) blockade of roads leading to Congress.Duterte also started key law and order speeches at turnover rites for the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with a <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/07/01/16/duterte-tells-military-peace-not-war" target="_blank">call for peace</a>.“We cannot be at war with our own people through generations,” the country’s new leader said. &quot;We cannot be at war with our own people for all time.&quot;<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/nation/06/15/061516-ndf.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">CPP-NDF leaders Jose Maria Sison and Luis Jalandoni meet with Duterte peace negotiators led by Jesus Dureza in Norway. Thirdy Ado, ABS-CBN News</div></figcaption></figure></div>Duterte’s negotiators to talks with the NDF include chief peace adviser Jesus Dureza, concurrent Labor Secretary Silvestro Bello III, and former lawmaker and agrarian reform secretary Hernani Braganza.All three have close ties to former President Fidel V. Ramos, whose government inked the Hague Joint Declaration in 1992 and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in 1998.The Hague Joint Declaration set the substantive agenda and framework for peace negotiations, to resolve the armed conflict through a “just and lasting peace”It prescribed the mutually acceptable principles, including national sovereignty, democracy and social justice as broad parameters for a final agreement. It also set aside preconditions that could negate the talks’ basic framework.The President referred to Ramos several times during the PNP and AFP turnover rites, often in the context of peace talks.The former president was among the first to encourage Duterte to contest the country’s top post, citing his intimate knowledge of the roots of conflict and close ties with the leftist and Bangsamoro insurgencies.SETTING THE STAGE“No one, it seems, saw it coming,” Philippine Peace Center executive director Rey Casambre said of the swift rapport established between the Duterte government and the NDF.Duterte campaigned on a tough law and order platform.His consistency in espousing a hard crackdown against criminality and corruption was matched by passionate vows to end communist and Muslim rebellions.The candidate from Mindanao threatened to bring crime lords face to face with their maker.“But Duterte was clear, from day one, in his belief that peace would happen only if historical injustices are corrected and the roots of the armed conflict addressed,” Casambre told ABS-CBN News.Duterte himself had testy exchanges with legal militant organizations, including labor, women and human rights groups during the campaign.<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameBorder="0" height="433" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FColmenaresPH%2Fposts%2F940026342701760%3A0&amp;width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe>The open left’s support for the candidacy of Sen. Grace Poe fueled social media bashing by Duterte’s followers.But the candidate never lost sight of the vision that played a major role in his decision to contest the Presidency, Casambre stressed.Duterte, with the help of Ramos, had early on worked to disarm sectors with the potential to rock his peace initiatives.Four months before announcing his candidacy, Duterte had already called CPP founding chairman Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, according to Casambre.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/abs-cbnnews/a_images/access/joma.jpg"/></figure></div>The gist of the phone call was, if Duterte won the elections, would Sison come home?Listening on to that phone conversation, were attendees to a forum composed largely of AFP officers.BREAKTHROUGHGovernment and rebel peace negotiators released a joint statement before Duterte took his oath as the country’s 16th President.The government panel committed to start talks on social and economic reforms (CASER) and the release of political prisoners in accordance with existing GPH-NDF agreements.During his PNP speech, Duterte also stressed that he would ensure that constitutional and other reforms keep in step with the peace process.That statement, largely ignored by news reports and commentaries, represents a significant change from previous governments’ insistence on keeping talks within the ambit of the 1987 Constitution.“Those are major steps,” Agcaoili stressed. “It means we do not have to start from scratch again. The new government is improving the odds for a faster of the peace process.”Under the Hague declaration, socio-economic reforms are a requisite for talks on political and constitutional reforms and the final peace process component – end of hostilities and the disposition of forces.Aquino refused to honor agreements that NDF had concluded with previous administrations. His administration also nixed discussions on the CASER, saying it would “politicize” poverty-related issues.Peace talks broke down in 2011 when Aquino’s peace negotiators insisted on changing the framework agreement, demanding an immediate ceasefire as a pre-condition for any dialogue.INCLUSIVE GOVERNMENT<figure class="op-social"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VJ0eISHsBzQ?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" width="510"></iframe></figure>Duterte was the only 2016 presidential candidate who made the resolution of the armed conflict through peace talks a major pillar in his platform, Casambre pointed out.During the campaign, and especially in the homestretch, Duterte repeatedly and unequivocally declared that the only way to stop the armed conflict was to hold peace talks with the Moros, including the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and with the CPP-NPA-NDFP. More importantly, Duterte stressed that there could only be peace if government corrects historical injustices and addresses the roots of armed conflict.Duterte has appointed three known progressives to Cabinet positions.Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and Liza Maza, incoming lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, come from the Gabriela women’s congressional party, which has tangled with the former Davao City mayor on a number of issues.Rafael Mariano served three terms in Congress under the Anakpawis party-list group, which represents poor farmers, workers and the urban poor.Other progressives have been appointed undersecretaries in the labor and social welfare departments, and now head crucial battlegrounds like the quasi-judicial National Labor Relations Commission,Education Secretary Leonor Briones is not from the militant block but has worked with them for years on fiscal reforms, including the campaign against congressional and executive pork barrels.“It will help facilitate talks of socio-economic reforms,” Agcaoili said. Cabinet secretaries often function as consultants to the government peace panel, which takes its cue from the national leadership.

The National Democratic Front (NDF) will work with President Rodrigo Duterte to fend off threats to peace talks, including plots by criminal gangs and displaced politicians seeking the new leader’s early ouster.

Duterte, NDF will defeat spoilers: peace negotiator

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Duterte, NDF will defeat spoilers: peace negotiator

Inday Espina-Varona,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 09, 2016 12:59 AM PHT

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