There seems to be a great disparity in the assessments of the Philippine government peace panel and the National Democratic Front (NDF) panel on when the two sides can finally end hostilities with a joint ceasefire agreement.
The Philippine panel led by Secretary Silvestre Bello III expressed optimism the other day that agreement may be reached in the third round of talks which began Thursday in Rome, after two previous meetings in Oslo, Norway. But Jose Ma. Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and senior political consultant of the NDF, said he thinks agreement can be reached “as early as 2020-2021.”
The Philippine panel would like to sign a cessation of hostilities agreement immediately while talks continue on socio-economic affairs and political and constitutional reforms. But it seems the NDF wants the talks on reforms completed, to form the basis for a Comprehensive Agreement on the End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces by 2020 or 2021. That’s three to four years from today.
During these three to four years, Sison said at the opening of the talks in Rome, the NDF will be remaining in alliance with the government, cooperating in the setting up of a federal republic and parliamentary system of government. After the talks on socio-economic reforms and political-constitutional reforms culminate in formal agreements, the NDF would want to see them implemented by the Duterte administration for a least two years before its term ends.
Earlier this month, there was some disagreement on the release of political prisoners, with President Duterte saying the NDF was asking for too many concessions. He said was willing to release more prisoners once he sees a copy of a formal agreement for a joint ceasefire. But NDF peace panel Chairman Fidel Agcaoili said the release of nearly 400 female, sickly, and elderly comrades from jail “should not be used as trump cards to extract concessions from the NDF.”
There is a gap between the two positions, but the fact alone that they are now meeting in Rome, encourages hope that they will come to some agreement. The fighting between government forces and the New People’s Army has been going on for the last 47 years – the longest Communist insurgency in the world.
The government understandably wants to end hostilities immediately, while the NDF, speaking for the CPP and the NPA, wants the reforms they seek first written down in formal agreements and implemented by the government. Somewhere between the two positions there must be a compromise that they can agree on. For now we must welcome the fact that they are meeting at all.