For the first time in 32 years of efforts to forge peace between the Philippine Government (GRP) and the Communist movement, formal negotiations will be held on April 20 on Philippine soil.
Negotiators from the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front hold discussions during their fourth round of peace talks at the Radisson Blu Palace Hotel in Noordwijk, The Netherlands Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Raffy Tima, GMA 7 | Manila Bulletin File Photo)
Discussions on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms, or Caser – said to be the “heart and soul of the ongoing peace talks between the GRP and the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF),” will be staged either at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) or at a venue to be provided by Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, who is himself, a member of the GRP team of Caser.
The representatives of the GRP and NDF will be discussing, under a realm of formal peace negotiations, matters on genuine land reform, rural development, national industrialization and foreign policy.
Whatever they agree on would eventually be tackled and approved in the Fifth Round of the talks, which return to Noorwicjk, The Netherlands in late May or early June.
“But definitely, this will happen,” GRP Caser group chairman Roberto Dator said.
The CPP and New People’s Army (NPA) were formed in 1968, and since then, attempts to forge peace between the Philippine government and the Communist group have taken place in the administration of five Philippines presidents – from Corazon Aquino, Fidel V. Ramos, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Joseph Estrada and Benigno Aquino III.
Under Duterte, the talks have progressed beyond the more than 40 rounds undertaken by peace panels under his predecessors.
That talks on the Caser have come this far, and that they will be held in Manila, will prove to be a big deal among those who have faithfully followed the talks between these two parties for decades.
And to shore up support for the Caser negotiations, GRP peace panel member officer-in-charge Hernani Braganza said they were adopting a theme that will raise awareness among the public about the issues being discussed in the peace talks.
“We want to carry the theme, ‘Okay ka, CaSer!’ We will print it on t-shirts, fliers and tarpaulin posters, because this is an issue that we want everybody to get involved in. The earlier that we achieve peace, the farther we reach about our intentions, the better,” Braganza said.
And it is not only the negotiations on Caser that will transpire in Manila, the more contentious issues regarding an interim joint ceasefire will also be taken up in the next few weeks in a still undisclosed place in the metropolis.
http://news.mb.com.ph/2017/04/13/peace-talks-in-manila/
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