Peace talks with NDF in March

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Eduardo Ermita expressed confidence yesterday that the stalled peace talks between the government and the communist rebels will resume in March.

Meanwhile, Ermita urged the New People’s Army (NPA) to avoid acts that may jeopardize the peace negotiations.

"We are awaiting word from the executive council of the NDF (National Democratic Front) on the agenda that will be discussed and probably this will happen mid-March. We will await the response of the NDF executive council," Ermita said.

He cited strong opposition raised by the communist rebels against the ongoing joint military exercise between the Philippines and the United States.

Ermita said backdoor talks were being pursued with Netherlands-based rebel leader Jose Ma. Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Sison has ordered intensification of armed attacks over the joint maneuvers dubbed Balikatan 2002.

"I hope they (NPA rebels) will not do anything that will adversely affect the resumption of the negotiations. I don’t think they can do that. In the first place, they don’t have much force in Zamboanga and secondly, the place is teeming with Armed Forces personnel," Ermita said.

He said former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III, head of the government peace panel, and Agrarian Secretary Hernani Braganza were scheduled to leave anew for the Netherlands in early March to meet with their NDF counterparts to lay the groundwork for the formal peace talks.

Bello and Braganza went to the Netherlands only last Jan. 8 for the back-channel negotiations.

The main agenda of the forthcoming talks include socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms and cessation of hostilities.

The peace negotiations suffered a setback due to a series of political assassinations conducted by the NPA in mid-2001. – Jose Rodel Clapano