Topic: Philippines

“Duterte and Dureza want nothing but the immediate capitulation of the revolutionary movement under the guise of an indefinite ceasefire and killing the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations,” he told ABS-CBN News from Utrecht.

“It is most reasonable that the June 28 resumption of formal peace talks proceed in Oslo. The agreements to be signed under the general title of interim peace agreement are well within the competence of the negotiating panels. However, Duterte or his Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea can grace the occasion and co-witness with me the signing of the agreement,” Sison told Kodao.

The stand-down agreement precludes government forces and the rebels from committing “any offensive action or operation against combatants and civilians.”
Both sides will also “stay where they are” and “take an active defense mode,” according to a copy of the deal obtained by ABS-CBN News.
The agreement will then be replaced by a clearer and more binding coordinated unilateral ceasefire deal once formal talks resumed.

Sison said the thrice-cancelled fifth round of formal talks shall push through on June 28 to 30, contrary to GRP President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest statement that the negotiations would resume sometime in mid-July.

Suspended by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in May last year after he was enraged by heightened offensives by the NDFP’s military arm New People’s Army (NPA), the resumption of the formal talks is expected to be highlighted by the signing of an interim peace agreement that could set the stage for the final resolution of the 50-year Communist insurgency.

His detractors today deliberately understate Sison’s incarceration as if this was a sacrifice and punishment he deserved to endure as a communist ideologue. They would appear inconsistent and lose credibility in vilifying Sison’s integrity as a person and revolutionary if it’s emphasized that he bravely defied the tyrant as a writer, activist, guerilla, and prisoner.

“The stand down agreement creates a favorable atmosphere for the resumption of the formal peace negotiations and the interim peace agreement to be signed in Oslo, hopefully on June 28,” Sison explained.

Sison made the response as his reaction to news reports that President Duterte is eyeing July as the possible month for the resumption of peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Reds

During their back-channel talks in the Netherlands, negotiators from the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) agreed that military and rebel forces would stand down as early as next week before the two sides resumed formal peace talks, according to Sison

Latest suggestion from the GRP is to start the stand down on June 21 instead of June 14. The exact date will be known only from the joint announcement to be made by the GRP and NDFP on or about June 9.