Earlier in the week Joma Sison was elated to tell the media that the pace talks were pushing through and everything was moving on schedule for June 28th.
“Successful. Magtanong sa (Please ask the) GRP negotiating panel. Please wait for the joint GRP-NDFP announcement,” Sison said.
With regards to the stand down agreement between the GRP and NDFP, Sison said from June 14, the date will be moved to June 21 because of the delayed court permission for the six NDFF consultants to surface and travel.
“So (there will be a ) one week stand down before the June 28-30 formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway,” Sison said.
But the very next day Duterte, instead of releasing a joint GRP - NDFP announcement, had this to say:
“So, I’m talking to [Jose Maria] Sison, sabi niya June. No, I’m not ready for that. Kailangan ko pa nang konting panahon [I need a little more time],” Duterte said in a speech during the oath taking of village officials in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
(So, I’m talking to [Jose Maria] Sison, he said June. No, I’m not ready for that. I need a little more time).
A little more time for what? Time to get the public's approval of the peace deal.
“In our common effort to make sure that we achieve a conducive and enabling environment for peace, President Rodrigo Duterte instructed us last night to engage our bigger “peace table” – the general public as well as other sectors in government as we work to negotiate peace with the communist rebels,” Dureza said.
He said there is a need to “listen” to the public before finalizing the deal.
“There is a need to engage the public all the more and get their support before we are able to put out certain agreements with the leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines,” he said.
Dureza said that coming up with a peace agreement would be useless without the support of the public, so the government peace panel “would go and listen to the public.”
“[For] our peace efforts to succeed, [it] should have good support from the general public. Hence, it is necessary that all efforts be exerted to inform and engage them in the same way the government engages the rebels [to] address the root causes of conflict,” he said.
He added that the government would like to take advantage of this “last opportunity and [ensure that] we don’t squander it.”
Dureza likewise emphasized that the government is determined “to put a dignified closure to the armed rebellion [and that this opportunity] will not be squandered away.”
“The government peace panel, in cooperation with the private sector, will continue its efforts to “engage” those who earnestly seek peace,” he said.
“We are now at the cusp of some major breakthroughs in the peace talks, hence, the urgent need now to take deliberate steps to ensure that we do not falter,” he added.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1000843/dureza-peace-talks-with-reds-on-june-28-canceled
What are these "certain agreements" of which the public needs to be informed? I would wager its the general amnesty upon which which the CPP is insisting.
A draft proclamation prepared by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) seeks amnesty for political prisoners in connection with the decades-old communist insurgency, a copy of the document showed.
If granted, the amnesty would benefit more than 800 people, including top communist leader Jose Maria Sison, said NDFP peace panel consultant Rey Casambre, in a list to be provided by the group.
A general amnesty for "more than 800 people" many of whom are being held for murder would not sit well with any right thinking person.
Whereas, in order to promote an atmosphere conducive to the attainment of a just, comprehensive and enduring peace as a necessary component and integral part of the GRP-NDFP Interim Peace Agreement (IPA), there is a need to declare amnesty in favour of the said Filipinos;
How does it follow that in order for there to be an enduring peace that amnesty must be declared for murderers and terrorists? It does not.
Amnesty shall cover acts or omissions punishable under the Revised Penal Code or special laws in connection with the rebellion waged by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People's Army (NPA), or for offences that will otherwise be common crimes but were committed or alleged to be committed in furthered of one's political beliefs;
Provided further, that amnesty shall not cover crimes against chastity and rape.
Good to know that NPA rapists remain in prison but NPA murderers can go free. What a deal! Read it here:
https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/news/06/16/ndfp.pdf
Also the CPP wants this amnesty processed by the DOJ within a week of application!
The DOJ shall forthwith act on the same dispatch with in a period of seven (7) days from receipt. The applicants shall be processed for a period not longer than one week on the humane, fair and just presumption that they have been processed repeatedly upon their previous rest, detention and subjection to trial.
Good luck with that! The government moves slow. Very. Slow.
The other issue is the stand down agreement which the AFP understandably does not think the NPA will uphold as they have failed to abide by previous ceasefires.
At a briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday night, Harry Roque said Mr. Duterte had met with top military and police officials at a command conference and asked them to “give peace a chance.”
“The President wants the cooperation of our men in uniform in the peace talks,” said Roque, former human rights lawyer and now presidential spokesperson.
Roque said “it appears” that the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines were “fully supportive of the peace talks.”
During the command conference, concern was raised over the possibility of rebels just taking advantage of the talks to “regroup and strengthen,” according to Roque.
Another concern raised was the possibility that rebels would continue collecting revolutionary taxes during the talks, Roque said. This would violate one of President Duterte’s conditions.
“But the President assured them that we needed to give the peace talks a chance,” Roque said.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1001036/duterte-resets-talks-with-reds
Give peace a chance? Tell that to the NPA. The PNP and AFP no doubt only appear to be supportive of the pace talks because to go against Duterte is career suicide. If the NPA wants peace they can show a little restraint and initiative. Why do they need a sheet of paper to declare a ceasefire? How hard is it to stop killing people?
The AFP has not let up against the NPA one bit.
Under a genreal amnesty these men would both go free. The AFP would have done everything in vain.
Aside from getting cold feet on the amnesty agreement and the ceasefire Duterte also wants a change of venue. Rather than Norway he wants to have the peace talks in the Philippines.
Malacañang on Monday said it prefers for the peace talks to be held in the Philippines than be held in a neutral country, even as Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison warned this could result in the end of the negotiations.
“Let’s just say as far as the President is concerned, venue matters. He does not understand why we should continue talking in Norway. Pare-pareho naman tayong Pilipino. Bakit kailangan lumayo pa?” Roque said in a press briefing.
While Sison was preparing for a homecoming, he insisted that a third-party venue was still necessary for the formal talks. He said in an Inquirer interview that Duterte dictating the venue of the talks “where he can conduct surveillance and control” will spell the end for the negotiations.
He says this AFTER the NDFP negotiators have already left the country! Will this be the end of the peace talks? Did Duterte ever really desire to restart the talks again or is he baiting the CPP to launch attacks so he can declare nationwide martial law? Does he even have a plan?
The PNP are preparing to take over Internal Security Operations against NPA and Islamic terrorists.
In fact, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said the police’s two elite forces are now regularly conducting operations against communist rebels in Luzon and Visayas areas.
He is referring to the Special Action Force and the Public Safety Units in the regions and the provinces—the two well-trained and well-equipped units of the PNP.
“This is already gradually being turned over to us with regard to Luzon and Visayas. Our police forces have been conducting operations in Luzon and Visayas,” said Albayalde.
He said the PNP’s capability to fully assume the ISO from the military will be further boosted with the recruitment of five more battalions of the Special Action Force (SAF) which is expected to be completed next year.
This is also the reason, according to him, the new police recruits are now mandated to take commando training courses in anticipation as the aim is to make all the incoming policemen ready for attacks by the communist rebels.
“Kaya nga gagawin natin ito to train our new recruits on commando forces of SAF. Whether you will be assigned with the saf or not, they will now undergo the training because of that foredight that eventually the ISO will be returned to us from the military,” said Albayalde.
But Albayalde was quick to stress that it may be a different case in Mindanao, as he insinuated that it will take more time before the PNP could take control of the law and order in Mindanao.
Aside from extremist groups like Maute and Abu Sayyaf, Mindanao is home to two major rebel forces which is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.
Another group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), is also yet to be finished off by the military despite several attempts to end it.
Maybe it's just me but I would delight in seeing the SAF deal with idiot drivers and other everyday offenders. Why can't the police take charge of ensuring law and order on a regular basis and leave the military operations to the MILITARY? The PNP used to be a branch of the military but that was decades ago. Time to move on?
Interesting this article calls MILF and MNLF rebel forces. These are the groups Duterte is negotiating with for peace via the BBL. Remember no BBL and the MILF will not be dropping their weapons.
"We are revolutionaries. We are not trained to talk much, but we are trained to do more," Jaafar said in front of an audience that included Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
"If there is no BBL, there is no decommissioning of troops," Jaafar warned.
It can't be any BBL. Jaafar said they want "all the provisions retained" to make sure that the law complies with government commitments in the peace deal.
"There are many amendments in the Senate version that were amended. I think it's over 100. We raised objections to some of those amendments when we were at the Senate," Jaafar said.
Among the significant amendment in the Senate is the deletion of a section listing the reserved powers of the national government, effectively removing the Bangsamoro region's power over all other areas not on the list.
"We realize the process of legislation but the interest of the Bangsamoro cannot be taken for granted. If people reject that in a plebiscite, what can we do?" said Jaafar.
There is frustration among the people, especially with the Senate version, Jaafar said.
The goal is an independent Islamic State. Never forget that. Never lose site of that because that is their true and stated goal. The sections removed from the Senate version which the MILF Is protesting is proof of that. Here is one example of what the MNLF wants.
Who will control untapped oil and natural gas reserves in the envisioned Bangsamoro region?
The answer isn’t clear as there seems to be a disconnect between what President Rodrigo Duterte has promised Muslim leaders and what is stated in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
“The government will not touch that. That’s yours. Nobody will interfere,” he said in Filipino during a speech in Davao City.
But both the Senate and House versions of the BBL state that fossil fuels – including petroleum, natural gas and coal – would be “co-managed” by the Bangsamoro and national governments with the revenues “shared equally” between them.
The two bills state that there will be “joint exploration, development and utilization” between the national government and the Bangsamoro government of any fossil fuels in the new Muslim-majority region.
However, this is only true of fossil fuels. All other revenues from development of natural resources in the Bangsamoro region, including mines and minerals, “shall pertain fully to the Bangsamoro government,” according to the two bills.
“In the case of fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas and coal) and uranium, the same shall be co-managed and the revenues shared equally between the national government and the Bangsamoro government,” the Senate version states. The House version is the same except it states “may” instead of “shall.”
The question of who controls oil and gas could be a sore point between Muslim leaders and the government, considering the vast potential for development of Mindanao, pockets of which have been riddled with conflict for decades.
In his speech, the President said the resources “will remain in your (Moros’) control and possession but you just have to pay the taxes and the services that the government would spend.”
But unless the bicameral conference committee adopts the President’s pledge and overhauls those provisions, the BBL will mandate equal sharing of revenues from oil and gas between the national and Bangsamoro governments.
The MILF and MNLF will want to control not only the mineral deposits but also the fossil fuel deposits in the region. Duterte has promised them that this would be the case but neither bill in the Senate or the House gives total control of fossil fuels to the BBL administration. Will the MNLF accept a BBL that does not give them such control? The problem is Duterte keeps making promises that he has no right to make and so expectations from the MNLF that he keep those promises are high.
It would be best if he did not make such grandiose promises.
BIFF is back! Not that they went away but now they are taking a lot more heat from the AFP.
Can you imagine Christians blowing up a Christmas celebration? Has this ever happened in the history of Christianity? Ever? But BIFF, an Islamic terrorist group, was planning to blow up Eid Fitr celebrations.
“The operation was launched as information from the ground revealed that the BIFF is planning to conduct large-scale, simultaneous bombings in cities … before the celebration of Eid Fitr,” Lieutenant-General Dela Vega, commander of Western Mindanao Command, told Channel NewsAsia.
Military intelligence sources told Channel NewsAsia that the cities targeted by BIFF militants include General Santos, Kidapawan and Cotabato on Mindanao island.
“The (armed forces’) thrust is to rid the area of terrorist groups to prevent them from bringing havoc during the observance of Eid Fitr. They (BIFF) bring nothing but destruction,” said Dela Vega.
“We have to perform our mandate to protect the people,” he added.
Wow. The AFP had specific information and acted on it in a timely manner. They did not ignore it or pretend to not understand what it meant. If only that bad been the case in the months leading up to the Marawi siege. But they did not act on the specific information they had and the rest is history.
