'GOOD DAY' | GRP, NDF agree on 6 major issues as Oslo talks wind down

From InterAksyon (Aug 26): 'GOOD DAY' | GRP, NDF agree on 6 major issues as Oslo talks wind down



The government and NDFP negotiating panels initial joint drafts after reaching agreement on six major issues during the fourth day of resumed formal talks in Oslo. (photo by Raymund Villanueva, Kodao Productions)

In what was described as “surprising dispatch,” the government and communist rebels have agreed and initialed joint drafts on six major issues on the fourth day of resumed formal negotiations in Oslo, Norway, an alternative media outfit covering the talks reported.

The issues, Kodao Productions said, are:

• affirmation of previously signed agreements
• reconstitution of NDFP’s list of Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees-protected personnel
• acceleration of the peace negotiations
• the mode of interim ceasefire
• general amnesty of NDFP-listed political detainees
• and the convening of the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

All six will be included in a joint statement both sides will release at the talks’ closing ceremony on Friday.

Underscoring the atmosphere surrounding the resumed negotiations, National Union of People’s Lawyers secretary general Edre Olalia, who is a legal consultant of the NDFP, said heading into the last day of the talks: “What seemed foggy at first cleared up eventually. Tomorrow is a good day.”

He said it was “pleasantly surprising that the parties easily and quickly reached a common intersection of positions on the remaining issues,” refusing to allow “spoilers” to “undermine the mutual desire and flexibility to resolve outstanding issues.”

NDFP negotiating panel chairman Luis Jalandoni said they were “happy” with the talks’ outcome.

“Itong anim na punto ay magandang produkto na ng pag-uusap. At mahusay ang atmosphere (These six points ae a good product of the talks. And the atmosphere has been very good).  Very friendly at cordial,” he told Kodao.

Jalandoni’s government counterpart, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, said: “It turned out that both panels did not have many differences in opinion, so we reached an early consensus.”

Bello said they will recommend that President Rodrigo Duterte issue a general amnesty for all political detainees included in the list submitted by the NDFP.

Both sides have agreed to schedule the next round of formal talks in the second week of October, still in Oslo.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/131825/good-day--grp-ndf-agree-on-6-major-issues-as-oslo-talks-wind-down