(UPDATED) The two parties also agree to reinstate unilateral ceasefire declarations within a month and extend the bail of the NDF consultants released last year
TALKS RESUME. Key negotiators fly to Utrecht to forge an agreement to resume peace talks. Photo courtesy of NDF
(3rd UPDATE) – Negotiators of the Philippine government and the communist National Democratic Front (NDF) were all smiles after they successfully forged an agreement to return to the formal negotiating table about a month after President Rodrigo Duterte scrapped the talks.
"The Parties shall continue the formal peace talks and reiterate their reaffirmation of all bilateral agreements and statements made in the GRP-NDFP peace negotations," read the joint statement signed Saturday afternoon, March 11, in Utrecht, The Netherlands (Saturday evening in Manila) after holding informal talks there.
The joint statement was signed by negotiators Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Hernani Braganza on the part of the government and Fidel Agcaoili and Benito Tiamzon on the part of the NDF. Chief presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza and NDF chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison are also among the signatories.
The backchannel talks were facilitated by Norway, the third party facilitator of the talks, and were held Friday and Saturday (March 10 and 11).
Reinstate ceasefire, bail
The two camps also committed to reinstate unilateral ceasefire declarations within a month or before the 4th round of talks scheduled in the first week of April. This arrangement should hold pending the signing of a more stable joint ceasefire deal that will put in place rules for the military and the communists' armed wing New People's Army (NPA).
The bail of all the NDF consultants released last year will be reinstated and extended while those who were re-arrested will be released again.
The government also made commitments to release 4 other NDF consultants who remain in detention and up to 19 other prisoners based on humanitarian and other grounds. These should also happen before the 4th round of talks.
The list and pictures of CPP personalities who will enjoy immunity from arrest – under the Joint Agremeent on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) – will also be deposited next week. This was supposed to happen late in February before the talks collapsed.
Persuaded by congressmen
President Rodrigo Duterte revealed the backchannel talks earlier this week.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also revealed later that Dureza and at least 3 NDF consultants were allowed to depart for Europe. They are Benito Tiamzon, wife Wilma, and Vicente Ladlad.
Duterte scrapped the talks in February after the communist armed wing New People's Army (NPA) withdrew from the 5-month-old ceasefire with the military.
Lorenzana said Duterte was persuaded to entertain the resumption of talks after about 100 members of the House of Representatives signed a resolution to push through with it.
But Lorenzana said government set conditions for the talks to resume. Aside from signing a bilateral ceasefire deal, the rebels are also expected to stop the collection of revolutionary taxes and release prisoners that include soldiers.
The joint statement made no mention of the two other conditions.
"President Duterte himself closely monitored the efforts taken by the negotiators while in Utrecht in the Netherlands in bringing about an early breakthrough in the talks," Dureza later said in a separate statement.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/163924-philippines-ndf-resume-peace-talks
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