NDF to Aquino: Have strong political will

MANILA, Philippines - The peace negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front (NDF) said President Aquino should exercise strong political will in addressing the roots of rebellion to achieve peace with communist insurgents.   

Government peace panel chairman Alex Padilla has said the government is expected to arrive at a peace settlement with the NDF in 18 months.

“They (government) should not base their optimism on a set time frame but on their own willingness to assert national independence, carry out a genuine land reform program and adopt an economic development program based on national industrialization and progressive and enlightened social policies,” said NDF spokesman Fidel Agcaoili during the closing ceremony of the formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway last week.

The NDF is demanding that the government agree to its Concise Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace, a 10-point proposal containing provisions for economic, social and political reforms.

“To forge a negotiated political settlement in 18 months would require the strong determination of both parties to agree on basic economic, social and political reforms that would satisfy the national and democratic interests of the Filipino people,” Agcaoili said.

“If President Aquino chooses the patriotic path to peace and accept this 10-point proposal, then we can have the peace agreement even ahead of the targeted 18-month time table,” he added.

In a statement issued yesterday, the NDF said the country’s socio-political and economic problems are bound to deepen because the first six months of the Aquino administration had only succeeded in clearing the way for greater privatization.

The NDF said Aquino gave preferential treatment to foreign capitalists by allowing foreign oil firms to rake it huge profits with relentless increases in the prices of gasoline and other petroleum products.

“(President Aquino) speaks empty people power rhetoric. At his inauguration last year, he declared that the people ‘are my boss.’ Yet, he has shown no sympathy for the people when his government approved increases in toll rates, train fares and water rates, one after another,” the NDF said.

“He (President Aquino) has also turned a deaf ear to the people’s demand for land reform, employment, wage increases, decent housing, and increased public spending on social services,” it added. – With Jaime Laude