‘Shifting venues’ in peace talks eyed

The government may agree to multiple or "shifting" venues for the separate peace talks with the communist National Democratic Front (NDF) and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Acting Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who is also presidential adviser on the peace process, said such a scheme would break any possible impasse over the venue of the peace talks.

Under the scheme, both sides could agree on a schedule where some talks are conducted outside the country while others are held in the Philippines.

Ermita said the scheme would serve as a compromise since both armed groups have expressed preference to conduct the peace talks outside the Philippines while the government has a policy to conduct peace talks within the country.

"Of course, as much as possible, we are trying to pull the peace talks here. The policy now of the government is that the peace talks should really be held here, within the country," Ermita said.

But the communist leaders, including Netherlands-based Jose Ma. Sison, have expressed a preference to conduct talks outside the country.

The government panel to the talks with the communist rebels, set for April 27, will be led by former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

The MILF has also indicated that they would prefer to conduct talks in a Muslim country, like Indonesia. Talks with the MILF remain unscheduled.

The government will be represented in the talks with the MILF by a panel headed by presidential adviser for Mindanao Secretary Jesus Dureza.

President Arroyo, however, referred the question on the venue of the talks to Cabinet Cluster E which deals with national security and political developments.

"So that we can give the right guidance to our negotiating panel," she said, adding that Cluster E would meet this week.

Ermita said Cabinet Cluster E is set to take up the matter this week and will relay the decision to the Bello panel which will consult with its counterpart panel, headed by former priest Luis Jalandoni.

"Let us allow our two panels to talk first with their counterparts so that we can have a basis (on the issue of venue)," Ermita said, stressing that the "shifting" venue scheme is only an option.

He said that the scheme worked in the government’s successful talks with the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

Ermita, who was the vice chairman of the government panel in those talks, said the talks were held alternately in the Philippines and Jakarta, Indonesia.

"This can be one of the options that we can follow," Ermita said. "But I don’t want to get ahead of what will be discussed at the level of the panel under the guidance of the Cluster E," he added.

Bello, for his part, expressed hope that Cluster E would consider the proposal of the communist leaders to hold the peace talks in "a mutually acceptable foreign neutral venue."

"We are hoping the President will keep an open mind," Bello told reporters during a breakfast forum at the Sulo Hotel in Diliman, Quezon City.

"In our meeting on Monday, we hope to come up with a position to back up the request for an acceptable venue of the peace talks," Bello added.

President Arroyo had assigned Bello to hold a "discreet and informal" meeting with communist rebel leaders on Mar. 5 to 9 at the Netherlands to re-start peace talks.

The President also ordered a suspension of military and police operations and withdrawal of troops in 11 areas in the Southern Tagalog region as a confidence-building measure.

According to Bello, the Holland-based communist leadership agreed to re-start talks so long as 10 previous agreements on various topics, forged in talks over six years, be considered "valid and binding."

The communists also asked for safety and immunity guarantees as well as a discussion on the implementation of a previous agreement on human rights.

Bello said the President agreed to all the terms, except for the communists’ position on the venue of the talks.

As a confidence-building measure, the communists said they would release on or before April 18 Army Major Noel Buan, who has been held captive by the communist forces in Quezon for over a year. — Marichu Villanueva, Cecille Suerte Felipe