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| Fidel V. Agcaoili (third from left) and wife Chit are joined in a meeting with Unifil-Migrante’s Eman Villanueva (left) and Dolores Balladares-Pelaez (right). |
Communist rebels are “guardedly optimistic” that the long-stalled peace process will be completed when negotiations with the Philippine government are resumed during the term of incoming President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
The President-elect met twice last month in Davao City with Fidel V. Agcaoili, member of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines’ negotiating panel, to discuss the possible resumption of the peace talks.
“We are guardedly optimistic because in our view, Duterte has a track record of relating with the revolutionary movement,” Agcaoili said in an interview with The SUN on May 31 during a brief visit to Hong Kong with his wife Chit.
First, he cited the times during the administrations of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno S. Aquino III when the Davao City mayor had received prisoners of war freed by the New People’s Army.
“Secondly, he said he was pro-Left or a socialist, thus he is for social justice, so we could see good results,” Agcaoili said.
The two sides signed The Hague Joint Declaration in 1992, in which they agreed to tackle substantive agendas including human rights and international humanitarian law, socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, end of hostilities and disposition of forces.
“We have so far achieved the first item, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. Previously, we had the The Hague Joint Declaration. Then we signed the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees,” he said.
“When President Duterte comes in, hopefully an agreement on social and economic reforms will be concluded so that we will be able to move on to a government of national unity, peace and development,” Agcaoili said.
Even as the couple flew to Hong Kong, Duterte told media he was sending his emissaries Jesus Dureza and Silvestre Bello III to Norway to hold preliminary talks with Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison.
No date has been set for the Oslo meeting, but Agcaoili said it could come shortly after Duterte had taken over the presidency from Aquino. “When he (Duterte) has assumed office, then we can start talking,” Agcaoili said.
“In our meeting last Tuesday (May 23), he told me the discussions would be about the reaffirmation of the previously signed agreements, releases of political prisoners, mutual ceasefire and how to accelerate the peace negotiations so that hopefully during his term the negotiations would be completed,” Agcaoili said.
Norway has been the host of the peace talks initiated by President Cory Aquino after the 1986 EDSA Revolt. But the process had been sidelined following the incident in Mendiola on Jan 22, 1987, when farmers marching for land reform were met with police fire on the bridge to Malacañang Palace. Thirteen were killed and scores wounded.
Agcaoili said the Left will be reminding Duterte about his promises to end contractualization of jobs, return the lumads (indigenous people of Mindanao) to their villages, and order the military and their paramilitary allies back to barracks.
“So, we are encouraging Duterte in his pro-poor, pro-people initiatives, and of course criticize him on any anti-poor, anti-people actions so that he would be encouraged to carry out reforms,” Agcaoili said.
He also welcomed Duterte’s offer to give four cabinet posts to leftist leaders. Agcaoili said he personally delivered the names of the four nominees to Duterte during their second meeting in Davao City.
Two of them were eventually appointed by Duterte to his cabinet. They were former Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano as his agrarian reform secretary and University of the Philippines professor and martial law victim Judy Taguiwalo as head of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
He said initially the NDFP panel would comprise Sison and his wife Julie de Lima, Luis Jalandoni and his wife Coni Ledesma, Agcaoili, Nonoy Calima and, hopefully, Alan Jazmines, “if he gets released before the talks”.
The government panel would consist of Dureza, Bello, Braganza, Rene Sarmiento, and Sedfrey Candelaria.
