Closing remarks at Fourth Round of Formal Talks

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Noordwijk, The Netherlands, April 6, 2017
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front o the Philippines

Her Excellency Elisabeth Slattum, Special Envoy to the Philippine Peace Process,
Hon. Secretary Jesus Dureza of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process,
Hon. Silvestre Bello, Chairman of the GRP Negotiating Panel,
Dear Compatriots in the Panels and Entire Delegations of the Governmentof Republic of the Philippines and the Natinal Demoratic Front of the Philippines,
Distinguished guests and friends,

The fourth round of formal talks has come to a successful conclusion. As the NDFP Chief Political Consultant, I congratulate both the GRP and NDFP panels and their respective delegations. I thank the Royal Norwegian Government, specially the special envoy and her staff, for having patiently and efficiently facilitated the round.

The Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RWCs-SER) have exchanged their respective comparative color-coded matrices identifying the contentious provisions and those that are acceptable in principle in the NDFP and GRP drafts in order to accelerate the process of concluding a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

The RWCs-SER identified the contentious provisions in the NDFP and GRP draft under Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD), clustered them into nine major topics and have held initial discussions regarding these. Consequently, the RWCs-SER agreed to form and convene Bilateral Teams composed of three members each and supervised by RWC-SER members to work on the sections on the ARRD and National Industrialization and Economic Development (NIED).

The bilateral teams are scheduled to hold work meetings in Metro Manila or elsewhere as may be mutually agreed upon in the Philippines. They have agreed on a progression of work meetings, involving discussions and common drafting. They have required themselves to submit reports to the RWCs on SER one week before the fifth round of formal talks.

I propose that the RWCS and bilateral teams to start drafting the executive orders and the legislative bills to be annexed to CASER and aimed at realizing the social and economic reforms required by CASER. In this connection, research has to be accelerated on what is to be done by the public and Filipino private sectors in cooperation o achieve ARRD and NIED. The Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill should should be taken into account in making a new land reform law. The priority industries to be established in order to lay the industrial foundation of the Philippine economy should be listed up in consultation with the industrial experts and prospective Filipino investors.

In the forthcoming round, the RWCs-SER shall discuss and work on the remaining items under the Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (Part IV), National Industrialization and Economic Development (Part V), Environmental Protection, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Part VI), and the outputs of the bilateral teams.

After devoting so much time to the subject of ceasefire before and during the current round, the GRP and NDFP have agreed to formulate an interim joint ceasefire agreement that will boost trust and confidence in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. They have agreed to direct their respective Ceasefire Committees to meet in-between formal talks “to discuss, formulate, and finalize the guidelines and ground rules for the implementation” of the agreement.

The prospective ceasefire’s guidelines and ground rules shall govern the presence of armed units and elements of both parties in local communities, the creation of buffer zones, the definition of prohibited, hostile, and provocative acts. A ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism is provided for to oversee the ceasefire’s implementation and handle complaints and alleged violations. The Interim Joint Ceasefire Agreement shall be signed immediately after the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

Matters concerning a single govermental authority and taxation shall be properly discussed in forging the Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms (CAPCR). Such matters can be finally resolved by the GRP and NDFP co-founding the Federal Repubic of the Philippines. Thus, the NDFP will not be capitulating to a pre-existing government but can assume reponsibilities in the new government.

The Interim Joint Ceasefire Agreement shall be valid and effective until a permanent ceasefire or truce is forged as part of the Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces (CAEHDF) or otherwise terminated by any of the two Parties for any reason we cannot foresee now. The ceasefire agreement is necessary and of high importance. But far more important and decisive in realizing a just and lasting peace is the adoption and implementation of basic social, economic and political reforms that are needed an demanded by the Filipino people.

We look forward to the fifth round of formal talks with high hopes. We all expect that before the forthcoming round a great deal of work has been accomplished by bilateral work meetings under the RWCs on SER and by the Ceasefire Committees of the GRP and NDFP. We aso expect the Reciprocal Working Groups on CAPCR to work in preparation for participation in the fifth round.

Thank you.

Closing speech for the fourth round of peace negotiations

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Noordwijk an Zee, The Netherlands, 6 April 2017
By Fidel V. Agcaoili
Chairperson, Negotiating Panel of the NDF

Her Excellency Ambassador Elisabeth Slattum, Special Envoy to the Philippine Peace Process, and her team of facilitators from the Royal Norwegian Government,
Compatriots in the Negotiating Panels and Delegations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP),
Esteemed guests and friends,

We are concluding a successful fourth round of formal talks. I will not mince words when I say it has been a difficult four days of peace negotiations. We came to this fourth round of formal talks determined as ever to push the forging of substantive agreements on basic reforms, specifically the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms so that both we in the NDFP and the GRP can firmly address – and redress – the chain of issues that lie at the roots of the armed conflict.

But to break the two-month impasse in the peace negotiations that resulted from the lifting of both sides’ unilateral ceasefires, we have decided to exercise maximum flexibility while staying firm on principles and work with the GRP Negotiating Panel to sign an Agreement on Interim Joint Ceasefire. Yesterday, on April 5, 2017, the two parties signed the agreement outlining the objectives, guidelines and ground rules for crafting the interim joint ceasefire agreement.

The document we signed yesterday is not yet a ceasefire agreement but it is a significant step toward making an interim joint ceasefire agreement. Our respective ceasefire committees are expected to immediately flesh out the terms and mechanisms for the interim joint ceasefire agreement. Their work will not be a walk in the park in view of the many concerns relating to escalating militarization and human rights violations in communities.

But what is important is that we continue to talk even while fighting, in view of the absence of any ceasefire declaration. What is important is that we do not lose sight of the substance of peace, which is not equivalent to the silencing of the guns.

It is good that in this round of the negotiations, the Reciprocal Working Committees of Social and Economic Reforms have firmed up free land distribution as the basic principle of genuine agrarian reform. Both parties have agreed to accelerate the forging of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms and formed bilateral teams to work on the draft in a neutral venue in Manila.

The NDF looks forward to further steps by our counterpart to overcome serious obstacles that hamper the progress of the negotiations, which relate to the enforcement of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law or CARHRIHL and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees or JASIG as well as the standing commitments contained in the previous Oslo and Rome joint statements of the negotiating panels.

Before I end, on behalf of the NDF Panel, I thank again the Royal Norwegian Government for its untiring support for the peace process in the Philippines. The road to peace is not a straight line, and we commend Ambassador Elisabeth Slattum and her team of facilitators for working hard to connect all the dots together to move the peace process forward.

Maraming salamat po. Thank you.

Joint Statement on the Successful Fourth Round of Formal Talks between the GRP and the NDFP

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April 6 2017, Noorwijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands

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NDFP, GRP agree to forge interim joint ceasefire agreement

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NDFP Media Office
Press statement
5 April 2017

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) today agreed to work together to forge an interim joint ceasefire agreement. They formalized their commitment through a document entitled Agreement on an Interim Joint Ceasefire which was signed this afternoon by NDFP panel chair Fidel Agcaoili and GRP panel chair Silvestre Bello III.

The interim joint ceasefire agreement shall be signed simultaneous to, or immediately after, the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER). CASER is expected to be finished within the year.

The interim joint ceasefire agreement (or the Comprehensive Joint Ceasefire Agreement) shall be effective until a permanent ceasefire is forged as part of the Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces.

Both parties agreed to direct their respective Ceasefire Committees to meet even in-between formal talks “to discuss, formulate, and finalize the guidelines and ground rules for the implementation” of the agreement.

The Comprehensive Joint Ceasefire Agreement is expected to be more stable than the previous unilateral ceasefires that existed from August 2016 to January 2017.

The prospective ceasefire’s guidelines and ground rules shall govern the presence of armed units and elements of both parties in local communities and the creation of buffer zones. They shall include an agreement on what constitutes prohibited, hostile, and provocative acts. They will also provide for a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism to oversee the ceasefire’s implementation and handle complaints and alleged violations.

The matter of a single governmental authority and taxation shall be discussed and resolved in forging the Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms, the third substantive agenda of the peace negotiations.

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NDFP signs agreement to forge interim joint ceasefire, move talks forward

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NDFP Media Office
Press statement
5 April 2017

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) signed an agreement on an interim joint ceasefire in order to ensure that negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) on basic socio-economic and political reforms move forward.

In an interview, Wilma Tiamzon, a member of the NDFP ceasefire committee, said that the NDFP exercised flexibility to find a way out of the impasse that resulted from the lifting of both sides’ unilateral ceasefires last February and help regain trust and goodwill between the two parties that prevailed in the first three rounds of the peace talks.

NDFP panel chair Fidel Agcaoili said that the NDFP exercised maximum flexibility without abandoning principles when it signed an agreement with the GRP on an interim joint ceasefire. The interim joint ceasefire agreement takes effect after or simultaneous to the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER). “This is not yet a ceasefire agreement,” said Agcaoili, “but it is a significant step because it points the road towards making an interim joint ceasefire agreement.”

In a written interview, NDFP consultant Dan Borjal said that both parties’ ceasefire committees will be working hard on the guidelines and ground rules of the interim joint ceasefire agreement so that the prospective ceasefire can be more stable than the previous unilateral ceasefires.

Tiamzon explained that the working out of the guidelines and ground rules to implement the interim joint ceasefire will go hand in hand with the forging of the CASER which is supposed to be finished before the current year ends.

“This will go a long way in building trust and confidence and generating the atmosphere for the acceleration of the negotiations for CASER,” NDFP chief political consultant Jose Ma. Sison said in his remarks during the signing ceremony.

“I think the (ceasefire) negotiators were wise and flexible enough to make provisions for what some people expected would break the negotiations,” he added.

The NDFP expects that the signing of the interim joint ceasefire will likewise be accompanied by the release and grant of general amnesty to all political prisoners listed by the NDFP.

CPP-NPA calls for SOMO for release of POWs

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NDFP Media Office
Press statement
5 April 2017

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) today reiterates and confirms the February 19, 2017 statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) directing the concerned New People’s Army (NPA) units to expedite the release of the six (6) captured prisoners of war (POWs) still in their custody as a “positive gesture” for the ongoing fourth round of the GRP-NDFP peace talks.

In fact, pursuant to the said CPP directive, the process of releases was immediately initiated. Last March 25, two (2) POWs, paramilitary members Rene Doller and Mark Nocus, captured in Lupon, Davao Oriental on February 14, were already released by their NPA custodial force to the members of the Third Party Facilitators and Independent Humanitarian Mission (TPFIHM) in Mati City, Davao Oriental.

The four (4) remaining POWs

  1. PFC Edwin Salan, captured in Alegria, Surigao del Norte on January 29;
  2. Sgt. Solaiman Calucop captured in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat
    on February 2;
  3. PFC Samuel Garay, also captured in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat
    on February 2; and
  4. PO2 Jerome Natividad, captured in Talakag, Bukidnon on February 9

would  have also been released in earnest but for the continuous and heightened AFP operations  in the provinces where they were captured, which is not only hampering the release but even placing the lives and safety of the said captured combatants and their respective NPA custodial forces as well as facilitators in serious jeopardy.

Yet, despite the difficult circumstances, the NDFP and the respective NPA commands continue to work closely with the members of the Third Party Facilitators and Independent Humanitarian Mission for the release of the remaining four (4) POWs.

For the safe and orderly release of the POWs, as well as to facilitate the safe withdrawal of the concerned NPA custodial forces, the NDFP strongly urges the GRP to order a ten-day Suspension of Military Operations (SOMO) for the AFP and Suspension of Police Operations (SOPO) for the PNP in and around the areas where the POWs will be released.

In particular, the said SOMO and SOPO should cover the following areas:

A. Bukidnon

  • Talakag (15 barrios)
  • Lantapan (14 barrios)
  • Baungon (10 barrios)
  • Malaybalay City (Tampi in Mt. Kitanglad, 10 barrios)
  • Pangantucan (10 barrios)
  • Kalilangan (5 barrios)
  • Valencia City (near Mt. Kalatungan, 10 barrios)

B. Surigao del Norte

  • Surigao City
  • Alegria
  • Bacuag
  • Gigaquit
  • Claver
  • Placer
  • Mainit

C. Agusan del Norte

  • Kitcharao

D. Sultan Kudarat (not entire province, areas to follow)
E. Sarangani (not entire province, areas to follow)
F. South Cotabato (not entire province, areas to follow)

The specific details of the releases will be coordinated by the respective NPA units with the members of the TPFIHM.

Again, the positive immediate response by the GRP in this regard will create the necessary favorable condition for the safe, expeditious and orderly release of the POWs, as well as the safety of their respective families and the members of the TPFIHM, and, also the safe withdrawal of the NPA custodial forces.

The positive response of the GRP will also further the positive thrust of the ongoing round of negotiations. ###

The biggest failure is Padilla

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NDFP Media Office
Press statement
4 April 2017

Padilla predicts the failure of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

In fact, Padilla is the biggest failure in the history of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

During his stint as head of the GRP negotiating panel, the talks did not progress even an inch.

He wanted to move it backward in negating what had already been achieved by trying to tear apart all the important agreements already signed.

He attacked the all-important document that is The Hague Joint Declaration as being a document of perpetual division because he did not agree with the basic principles stated in the document, that the holding of peace negotiations must be in accordance with mutually acceptable principles, including national sovereignty, democracy and social justice and no precondition shall be made to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations.

He did not agree with the principle of mutuality and reciprocity because he wanted to impose the authority of the GRP over the NDFP and the revolutionary movement.

He wanted the NDFP to surrender even without having come to agreement on the necessary reforms.

He said that in fact, the GRP was already implementing socio-economic programs, implying that there was really no need to go into the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), the second item in the substantive agenda of the peace negotiations.

That is why under his watch as head of the GRP negotiating panel, the talks could not proceed on CASER, which even the GRP panel under Silvestre Bello acknowledges as the “heart and soul” of the peace negotiations.

Padilla is spreading intrigue in his claim that the NDFP leaders engaged in the current peace negotiations do not represent the revolutionary movement.

He also implies that President Duterte and the rest of the GRP panel are stupid for talking to these leaders.

Having become irrelevant to the current peace talks, he is now trying hard to be a “spoiler”. ###

Reference:
Dan Borjal
email: [email protected]
twitter: https://twitter.com/dfborjal
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dborjal
viber: +31 643108419
whatsapp: Dan Borjal

Bellicose statements from AFP poisoning the atmosphere

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NDFP Media Office | Press statement
4 April 2017

Statements from AFP chief, Gen. Eduardo Año, virulently attacking the NPA is poisoning the atmosphere of the ongoing peace talks in The Netherlands. While the GRP and NDFP panels are trying to negotiate peace, the militarists in the GRP are only talking about war.

Año’s claim that the NPA is anti-development is turning the truth upside down. The NPA has been engaged in socio-economic programs in areas it controls precisely because of the utter neglect and indifference of successive governments in attending to the people’s basic needs.

The NPA carries out programs in health, literacy and improving the living standards of the people through production and marketing cooperatives. This is where much of the proceeds from revolutionary taxation are spent, unlike the GRP where tax money is eaten up by corruption.

The AFP itself is an institution where corruption is rampant. Generals have it so good and some retire as millionaires. Meanwhile, their troops on the ground sometimes go hungry and steal from the peasants their chickens and eggs.

In the countryside, the peasant masses and indigenous people consider the NPA as the army of the poor, while the AFP is the army of the landlords, landgrabbers and other exploiters. The peasants call AFP troops “Hapon,” likening them to the brutal Japanese soldiers during the time of the Japanese occupation.

The NPA has just celebrated its 48th anniversary full of confidence in the bright future of the revolution. The AFP from the time of the fascist Marcos dictatorship to the big-landlord government of Benigno Aquino III has failed to defeat the NPA. The reason for this is the NPA has the support of the people.

No amount of “fake news” and disinformation from the AFP can turn the truth upside down.

Reference:
Dan Borjal
email: [email protected]
twitter: https://twitter.com/dfborjal
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dborjal
viber: +31 643108419
whatsapp: Dan Borjal

Resist peace-spoiling by US stooges

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Communist Party of the Philippines
April 4, 2017

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) congratulates the NDFP and GRP Negotiating Panels for successfully pushing through with the opening of the fourth round of peace negotiations yesterday despite the peace-spoiling by stooges of US imperialism in the military establishment. To support the talks, the Party calls on the Filipino people to reject these US stooges and resist their efforts to spoil the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations.

These US stooges, mainly Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and Gen. Eduardo Año, are acting in behalf of US imperialism, in seeking to derail the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations with the long-term aim of keeping the country in a perpetual state of economic backwardness, people’s unrest and civil war.

On April 1, just before the 4th round of peace negotiations could start, Lorenzana issued vitriolic statements and foisted demands contradictory to the spirit of the March 11 GRP-NDFP Joint Statement. Lorenzana and his ilk in the AFP insisted that the fourth round of peace talks be devoted to forge a bilateral ceasefire, in the hope of preempting negotiations on the more pressing questions of socio-economic reforms.

Echoing the line of the US stooges, GRP President Duterte put forward more conditions prior to the fourth round of talks, thus pushing it to the brink. The fourth round of talks proceeded yesterday only because of the openness of the NDFP Negotiating Panel to discuss the possibility of a joint unilateral ceasefire and the flexibility of both sides in setting the agenda of the talks.

US imperialism opposes substantive agreements
Lorenzana and his fellow US stooges are trying to prevent peace negotiations from moving forward in efforts to discuss and resolve the substantive socio-economic issues, especially the most crucial issues of genuine land reform and national industrialization. They also want to prevent negotiations on political and constitutional reforms where the question of national sovereignty will be a critical matter.

The three fascist stooges serve US big arms and weapons industry, its big capitalist trade and investment interests in the Philippines and its local partners among big business (the Zobels and Ayalas) and the big landlords (including the Aquino-Cojuangcos).

They are bent on keeping the Philippines as an exclusive dominion of US imperialism, preventing it from exercising an independent foreign policy to engage in economic, diplomatic and military relations with other countries. They serve the aim of the US imperialists to secure its hegemony in the country in the face of rising challenges in the context of a multipolar world.

On Lorenzana terror-tagging
Lorenzana insists on the worn-out US terrorist tagging against the CPP and NPA to misrepresent the revolutionary forces, draw attention away from the fundamental socio-economic issues and put to question the very basis of peace negotiations between the NDFP and the GRP

This goes against the January unilateral move of the GRP Negotiating Panel which formally asked the US to remove NDFP Chief Political Consultant Prof. Jose Ma. Sison from its terrorist listing. Indeed, the conduct of the peace negotiations itself, facilitated by the Royal Norwegian Government, is the most glaring negation of Lorenzana’s terrorist tagging of the revolutionary forces.

Lorenzana’s terror tagging the CPP and NPA is also a vain attempt to cover up the rapidly piling cases of terrorist war crimes of the AFP in the conduct of aerial bombardments, shellings and killings of peasant activists over the past few weeks.

US wants AFP to wage all-out war
Lorenzana et al are more interested in waging an all-out war against the Filipino people in order to suppress their struggle to end US imperialism and attain national liberation. By having the AFP wage all-out war, the US military industry is assured that the country will continue to purchase helicopters and jet fighters from the US and US-affiliated corporations to drop US-made bombs and carry out armed suppression against peasant communities and the ancestral land of minority people. This is the same case across the globe today, where the US government has instigated or carried out bombings and wars such as in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Nigeria and elsewhere.

In just the past few days, the AFP has been on an aerial bombardment campaign in Mindoro, Agusan del Norte and Davao Oriental. Aerial bombing runs have also been conducted in Abra, Agusan del Sur, Sarangani, Davao and other provinces. Just recently, armed AFP troops have occupied Barangay Baglay in Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental, as well as other villages in Abra, Marilog, Sultan Kudarat, Mindoro.

General Año must be made to answer for the successive killings by his men of civilians Renel Mirabeles of Bagong Silang, Sipocot, Camarines Sur (March 30), Jeffrey Santos of Barangay Tagbinonga, Mati, Davao Oriental (March 30) and Danilo Nadal of Barangay Tibagun, Pantukan, Compostela Valley (April 2). Since February, close to 50 peasants and members of the national minority, mostly residents of areas which the state security forces suspect to be part of the NPA mass base, have been killed by operating troops of the AFP.

In waging aerial bombardments and a campaign of armed suppression against the poeple, they are, however, succeeding only in convincing thousands of people to support and join the New People’s Army.

Reject militarist framework of US stooges
The CPP calls on the Filipino people to urge the Duterte regime to reject the war-freak mindset of the three US stooges and push the peace negotiations to tackle the substantive issues of socio-economic reforms and not derail the process by insisting on a premature bilateral ceasefire without prior agreements on substantive socio-economic and political reforms.

For peace talks to continue moving forward, GRP President Duterte must reject the insistence of the militarists to prematurely push a bilateral ceasefire agreement even before agreements on substantive issues are forged. Discussions on the more crucial socio-economic issues, which the GRP panel also consider as the meat of the negotiations, should not be preempted.

The CPP and all revolutionary forces calls for acceleration of negotiations to forge an agreement on comprehensive socio-economic reforms which are at the root of the armed conflict. A bilateral ceasefire can be discussed as a consequence of the CASER and CAPCR.

NDFP, GRP determined to resolve snags, move talks forward

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NDFP Media Office
Press Release
3 April 2017

The fourth round of formal peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) formally opened this morning at Noordwijk, The Netherlands, with both Parties expressing determination to resolve current problems and move the talks forward.

Shaky start
The talks were off to a shaky start, with the formal opening postponed twice–first to give the GRP panel time for internal caucus, and second for the two Parties to hold informal discussions on a bilateral interim ceasefire agreement. The fourth round of talks should have opened yesterday morning, as agreed upon in the Rome talks last January and affirmed in the 11 March 2017 Utrecht Joint Statement.

The GRP and NDFP panels last night agreed to go ahead with the formal opening today and continue talks this afternoon on the bilateral ceasefire. At the open forum, both Parties declined to comment on questions regarding the status of the talks on the bilateral interim ceasefire, preferring to wait for the final outcome at the end of this round of talks.

The atmosphere of uncertainty comes in the wake of the impasse last February after GRP Pres. Rodrigo Duterte cancelled the talks after the New People’s Army lifted its unilateral ceasefire. Duterte also ordered the rearrest of Philippine-based NDFP consultants released on bail in order to participate in the talks. One of the consultants, Mindanao-based Ariel Arbitrario, was arrested at a checkpoint in Davao City on February 5 following Duterte’s verbal orders. He was released on 29 March and is part of the NDFP delegation for this round.

The talks resumed after backchannel talks were held in Utrecht, The Netherlands last 10-11 March. Both Parties agreed to work on a bilateral ceasefire agreement in the fourth round. Meantime, they agreed to reinstate their respective unilateral ceasefires.

However, the GRP announced last 31 March that it would no longer declare a unilateral ceasefire, saying it would push for a bilateral ceasefire agreement ahead of further talks on other items in the agenda.

Common ground on social and economic reforms
In his opening remarks, Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, the NDFP’s chief political consultant, highlighted the importance of the ongoing negotiations for a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), observing that the parties’ respective drafts have enough concurrences and similar positions as common ground to be able to forge an agreements by yearend. He stressed, however, that as a matter of principle, CASER must be a step ahead of the joint ceasefire agreement being demanded by the GRP, unless both can be signed at the same time.

NDFP panel chair Fidel Agcaoili shared Professor Sison’s positive views and reiterated the wisdom of securing the approval of the CASER ahead of any single joint ceasefire agreement. He noted that ceasefires are just a means to an end, with their main purpose being to create conditions conducive to reaching agreements on basic reforms that are satisfactory to both sides.

Violations of rights accord
Agcaoili moreover raised the NDFP’s concerns over the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed in 1998, citing, among others, the promised release of 19 ailing and elderly political prisoners, the continued detention of six NDFP consultants, the unresolved cases of enforced disappearance and murder of JASIG-protected personnel under the Arroyo regime, and escalating military operations that terrorize communities. He cited statistics from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, stating that up to 46 farmers have been killed under the Duterte government, half of them after the AFP declared its all-out war policy last February 2.

Agcaoili, however, acknowledged the progress made by the Duterte government in providing compensation to victims of the Marcos dictatorship.

Finally, he expressed appreciation for the efforts exerted by the Royal Norwegian Government as Third Party Facilitator, in helping the parties overcome the obstacles and realize the continuation of the formal talks as scheduled. ###