From GMA News (Aug 15): Duterte meets Satur Ocampo, other NDF leaders in Malacañang
President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday met with representatives of the National Democratic Front in Malacañang.
The meeting with former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, NDF legal counsel Edre Olalia and other NDF personalities came after Duterte and Communist leaders traded barbs over the media following the lifting of the government's unilateral ceasefire.
"I was talking to the NDF panel and we had the discussion about how to shape up a government without necessarily going into the complicated task of coalition because I don’t think it would work," Duterte said in a speech in Malacañang, also on Monday.
"And I said that maybe, what would come out of these talks in Oslo, where that I would insist that I retain the control of the military and the police, and they can have the mundane matters of government. As a matter of fact, nandiyan na sila," he added.
The government and NDF panels are expected to revive the peace negotiations when they meet in Oslo, Norway on August 20.
Among the officials in the Duterte administration who were nominated by the leftist movement include Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, a former leader of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas; National Anti-Poverty Commission chairperson Liza Maza, a former representative of the Gabriela party-list; and Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.
Sought for comment, Olalia said the meeting with Duterte was "cordial" even "humorous."
"It was positive. Very light, cordial, warm, conversational and humorous exchange," Olalia said.
Political settlement
Duterte, who won a landslide election victory in May, is seeking a political settlement to one of Asia's longest insurgencies which has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1969.
Five previous presidents had failed in that objective, and the process appeared to sour on July 30 after Duterte cancelled a days-old unilateral ceasefire when a rebel ambush killed a government militia member and wounded four others.
"In general the relationship between the revolutionary movement and Duterte is excellent... glitches like these can be fixed through peaceful dialogue," chief rebel negotiator Luis Jalandoni told AFP by telephone.
The rebels also want to discuss the crafting of a general amnesty proclamation by Duterte covering all 550 detained members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing the New People's Army.
The rebel army is believed to have fewer than 4,000 gunmen, down from a peak of 26,000 in the 1980s, according to the military.
But it retains support among the deeply poor in rural areas, and its forces regularly kill police or troops while extorting money from local businesses.
As a goodwill gesture, the new government has withdrawn its longstanding opposition to bail petitions filed in court by 18 detained top guerrilla leaders, including the alleged party chiefs Benito Tiamzon and wife Wilma Tiamzon.
All 18 are expected to be freed from Manila prisons this week so they can fly to Oslo to help out in the negotiations as "consultants" to the National Democratic Front.
Benigno Aquino, the president before Duterte, shelved peace talks in 2013 after rejecting the front's demand that he free all imprisoned guerrillas.
With ceasefires in place, Jalandoni said the two parties could work on crafting reforms to address the roots of the conflict.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/577729/news/nation/duterte-meets-satur-ocampo-other-ndf-leaders-in-malacanang
"And I said that maybe, what would come out of these talks in Oslo, where that I would insist that I retain the control of the military and the police, and they can have the mundane matters of government. As a matter of fact, nandiyan na sila"
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that if the above quote attributed in the article to President Duterte is true and not just more hyperbole from the president, its going to raise some eyebrows among the political elite.
The question that has to be asked is why would any Philippine president be willing to hand over the effective day-to-day governance of the state to a handful of anachronistic Maoists and in effect hand to the communists on a silver platter what they have been demonstrably unable to win on the field of battle.
Duterte has already appointed three communist to key positions in his administration -- Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, a former leader of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas; National Anti-Poverty Commission chairperson Liza Maza, a former representative of the Gabriela party-list; and Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.
Militarily, when compared to the insurgents strength in the early 1980s that numbered some 25,000 fighters, the New People's Army has been effectively marginalized. The military estimates the NPA's current strength at slightly over 4,000 insurgents way down from the 1980s.
Furthermore, the group's strongholds have been pushed deeper and deeper into mostly remote mountainous locations. Now the NPA engages in extortion activities to survive and its operations are limited to hit and run activities in remote areas. The notion that the NPA can or would engage the Philippine military in any large-scale operations or "surround the cities from the countryside" seems extremely remote.
In addition, the military's OPLAN Bayanihan has been effective in shrinking the areas under communist control and weaning the group's mass base supporters away from the underground movement. At this point wouldn't it make more sense for the communists to make compromises/concessions to the government rather than the other way around? And is it good negotiating strategy for President Duterete to tip his hand concerning the concessions he is considering even before formal negotiations begin?
Joma Sison and his Maoist sycophants must be absolutely giddy over their reversal of fortune with the election of Duterte.