12 deaths in Quezon clash won't affect talks: Bello

From ABS-CBN (Mar 31): 12 deaths in Quezon clash won't affect talks: Bello



An encounter between the military and communist rebels in General Nakar, Quezon Thursday, that led to the deaths of 2 soldiers and 10 rebels, will not affect the revival of peace negotiations, chief peace negotiator Silvestre Bello III said.

The attack took place a day before the National Democratic Front of the Philippines is expected to declare a unilateral ceasefire.

"In a way, it will give us reason to doubt their sincerity but incidents like these should give us more reason to pursue the talks," Bello told ABS-CBN News.

Bello said skirmishes between government forces and communist rebels should be expected "until we can craft a bilateral ceasefire agreement."

Though the bilateral ceasefire agreement will be among the priorities in the next round of talks in the Netherlands, encounters between government troops and the New People's Army will not be discussed by peace negotiators as these are accepted as part of the "realities on the ground," he said.

"We don't bring up those matters (on the negotiating table). They (Reds) are aware and we (government) are aware that we are in an armed conflict. That's why we are negotiating."

The peace adviser said he is confident that President Rodrigo Duterte will not pull government negotiators from the talks for the second time due to the incident in Quezon province. "I know for a fact the obsession of the president with peace... 'Yung ginawa niya nun gambit din yun," Bello said.

Peace negotiations between the government and the communist underground movement broke down early February, with President Rodrigo Duterte even branding Reds as "terrorists." Duterte instructed the government panel to pull away from the negotiating table after several soldiers were brutally killed by New People's Army members last month.

After backchannel talks, both parties have decided to resume official peace talks in April in The Netherlands.

The Communist Party of the Philippines earlier said it will declare a ceasefire ahead of the resumption of the peace talks.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/31/17/12-deaths-in-quezon-clash-wont-affect-talks-bello