Joma says Oslo talks to tackle ceasefire details

LUCENA CITY—Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison said on Wednesday he hoped clashes between the insurgents and government forces would temporarily halt as both sides prepare for the expected resumption of peace talks in Oslo, Norway in July.

“What is immediately possible is an interim ceasefire, which effectively stops the fighting while peace negotiations are going on,” Sison told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

He said that he was hopeful that the ceasefire “will be felt immediately” as representatives from Manila and the communist’s political wing, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), prepared to meet for preliminary talks in Oslo on June 14 to 16.

Ceasefire liaison officers and third party monitors would be named to ensure compliance of the deal, he said.

Once the ceasefire is in effect, government forces and communist rebels would be restricted inside their camps and guerrilla zones, respectively.

“They are prohibited from firing their weapons and are required to avoid provocations. They cannot just move freely into the territory of the enemy,” Sison said.

He noted, however, that both sides were entitled to their “right of self-defense.”

The New People’s Army is the armed wing of the CPP, and while its membership has dwindled significantly during the 1980s, it remains capable of mounting deadly guerrilla attacks.

Peace talks between the rebels and the government have repeatedly bogged down in the past, largely due to the insurgents’ insistence for government to free jailed comrades.

But President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is perceived to have close ties with the leftist movement, allowing for the quick resumption of negotiations.

Sison, on Wednesday, also warned the government not to reiterate its demand for rebels to lay down their arms during the peace negotiations.

“If the revolutionaries agree to have… their guns sealed while negotiations on reforms are ongoing, then they would be accused of surrendering [and] betraying the just cause of the revolution,” said Sison, the chief political consultant of NDFP.

He said preliminary talks between peace negotiators designated by President-elect Duterte and by the NDFP is scheduled to be held in Oslo next week, ahead of the formal resumption of peace talks.

But the negotiators were not expected to sign any agreement during the exploratory meeting in Oslo this month, with Duterte yet to officially assumed the presidency.

The government panel will be represented by Silvestre Bello III and Jesus Dureza while the NDFP representatives include Sison and Luis Jalandoni, the NDFP’s chief peace negotiator.

The NDFP has been engaged in on-and-off negotiations with the government in the past 27 years.