Church leaders welcome CPP’s inclination toward bilateral truce with GRP

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 20): Church leaders welcome CPP’s inclination toward bilateral truce with GRP

Church leaders on Monday welcomed the pronouncement of the Communist Party of the Philippines to discuss the forging of bilateral ceasefire agreement with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

In a statement released Monday, Bishop Felixberto Calang, main covenor and co-chair of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), an organization of various religious denominations in Mindanao, said that the pronouncement was the most positive development in the midst of the gloom surrounding the peace talks.

“If the bilateral ceasefire agreement happens, it will restore the timetable of the talks and allow the February and April negotiations to push in the Netherlands and in Oslo, Norway,” Calang said.

He said that a restored timetable would mean an “anticipation” of the unveiling of a draft Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms later this year, a blueprint for socioeconomic transformation that the Filipino people have long struggled for.

Calang said that the resumption of the peace talks could alleviate the series of unfortunate events such as the GRP termination of the JASIG and the subsequent declaration of an all-out war by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The unfortunate events quickly overshadowed the successful outcome of the third round of talks in Rome, Italy and the promising prospects of more substantive bilateral agreements being signed in future rounds, he said.

Calang said that the “tried-and-failed” formula of an all-out war did not only dash hopes for the continuity of the talks, but have led to the displacement of rural communities hit by aerial bombardments in the hinterlands.

According to Calang, along with the CPP’s pronouncement for a bilateral ceasefire, the CPP also ordered the New People’s Army (NPA), the CPP’s military arm, to release all members of the AFP and PNP under its custody.

He said that in the light of the CPP’s pronouncement, the PEPP, once again, voluntarily offers itself as the “Third Party Facilitator” as part of its commitment to attain lasting peace since the peace negotiation started in 2010.

Calang said that the PEPP would undertake the formation of the Crisis and Peace Bridging Committees as part of the facilitation and is optimistic that President Duterte’s peace panel continues to be hopeful that the peace negotiations would be back on track.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=965668