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NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said they are likewise open and ready to resume the peace negotiations and expect the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and NDFP negotiating panels to meet as soon as possible.

Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison on Thursday said that there should be no preconditions for the resumption of peace talks, noting that the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to go back to the negotiating table is being welcomed as good development.

Sison, however, said the petition is “a problem” because it has banned NDFP communist consultants from participating in peace negotiations.
“That kind of obstacle or hindrance must be dealt with properly in a timely manner,” the Netherlands-based Sison said in an interview with ANC.

The petition is “a problem” because it has banned NDFP communist consultants from the 2 organizations from participating in peace negotiations, said Sison, founder of the CPP.

He also reminded that Duterte, whom he had a word war with in November after he tagged the CPP and the New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorists, still enjoys his support.

Peace talks resumption should have no preconditions —CPP founder Joma April 5, 2018 In a phone interview on Dobol B sa News TV, Sison from The Netherlands said…

edited by Cynthia McKinney. Prof. Jose Maria Sison is one of the 25 internationally known authors in this anthology of anti-imperialist essays

“The fact that there are documents painstakingly drafted, which served as the guidelines on the series of negotiations are proof that there are positive outcome from the talks,” he said, citing the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reform and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee.

“This agreement on coordinated unilateral ceasefire is in the same package of draft agreements, including the draft amnesty to release all NDFP-listed political prisoners in compliance with CARHRIHL and the drafts of such major parts of CASER as Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) and National Industrialization and Economic Development (NIED),” Sison said.

Sison said the concurrence of Congress is needed for a presidential amnesty proclamation to release all political prisoners in compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) in exchange for a mutually effective ceasefire as the first step towards the end of hostilities.