(Eagle News) –The National Democratic Front of the Philippines will no longer negotiate with the government of President Rodrigo Duterte, Jose Maria Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, said on Thursday, June 28.
“So long as (Duterte) heads the (Government of the Republic of the Philippines), the Filipino people, especially the oppressed and exploited, cannot expect any benefit from negotiating with the Duterte regime,” Sison said in a statement posted on the NDFP website.
Sison made the statement after Peace Secretary Jesus Dureza announced the suspension of backchannel talks with the Communist rebels to allow for the government to consult with the public and other agencies.
The government had said the Communist rebels understood the government’s decision, and even said they would consider the government’s invitation for them to take part in the consultation.
In making the decision to no longer conduct peace talks, Sison noted what he said were Duterte’s “long and repeatedly proven lie” he would release all political prisoners even before the start of peace talks, lack of interest “in addressing the roots of the armed conflict through social, economic and political reforms,” “strategic obsession” to “seek the capitulation and pacification of the revolutionary forces and people,” desire to “paralyze the revolutionary movement and erode its strength through some dole-out schemes to the revolutionaries and communities in focus areas under his military control, surveillance and psywar operations,” lack of an “economic program different from that of his reactionary predecessors,” desire for “an overcostly and turbulent federal system of exploiting classes, regional dynasties and warlords,” non-interest in an independent foreign policy, “sell-out” of the West Philippine Sea and its rich mineral and marine resources” for the “private gains” of his family and “cronies,” and his flip-flopping in his treatment of peace negotiations.
Sison said “it is relatively easier and more productive for the NDFP to participate in the Oust-Duterte movement and to prepare for peace negotiations with the prospective administration that replaces the Duterte regime.”
“The agreements and drafts already produced in the GRP-NDFP peace talks can be used by peace advocates and people´s organizations for information and education campaigns among the people and for consultations with them. Many of the reforms can be promoted and developed even without peace negotiations,” he said.
“The Duterte regime is on record as having terminated the peace talks so many times. It is indubitably responsible for the termination of peace negotiations. It is therefore just for the revolutionary forces and the people to wage people´s war for national liberation and democracy,” he added.