Govt peace panel to talks with NDF complete, brings back 'GRP'

From InterAksyon (Jul 13): Govt peace panel to talks with NDF complete, brings back 'GRP'

The government panel to peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines has completed its lineup, independent media outfit Kodao Productions reported.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who heads the panel, told Kodao they would revert to using the old GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) to refer to themselves instead of GPH (Government of the Philippines), which was adopted by the Aquino administration.

It was as the GRP that 10 agreements with the NDFP were signed, including the landmark Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees.

The new additions to the GRP panel are two lawyers from Mindanao -- Angela Librado, who will represent women, and Noel Felongco, who will represent indigenous people.

Librado is a former Davao City councilor who is now Matina barangay chairperson, while Felongco, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, was described by Bello as an “anti-irresponsible mining advocate.”

Rounding off the GRP panel are former congressman Hernani Braganza and lawyer Rene Sarmiento, both of whom were members of the government panels under the Ramos and Arroyo governments.

Formal talks with the communists are expected to resume later this month or sometime August.

Bello also announced the appointment of two heads of reciprocal working committees: lawyer Efren Moncupa, a former government negotiator, for socio-economic reforms, and Ateneo de Manila University School of Law dean Sedfrey Candelaria, for political and constitutional reforms.

No one has yet been named to head the last technical working committee, on the end of hostilities and disposition of forces, although Bello told Kodao he has already consulted Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

The NDFP panel, which represents communist rebels in the talks, will still be headed by Luis Jalandoni with his wife Coni Ledesma, Fidel Agacoili and Juliet de Lima, wife of Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison, as members. Kodao reported that the NDFP panel hopes to be joined by Alan Jazmines, an alleged ranking rebel leader who has been in detention since his arrest in 2011.

http://interaksyon.com/article/130287/govt-peace-panel-to-talks-with-ndf-complete-brings-back-grp