Signs of Peace An Interview with Peace Advocate Joeven Reyes September 2016 The current Philippine government shows political will to end fights with the Philippine leftist movement and to pursue lasting peace for the first time in decades. What were the mile stones of the peace pro- on peace and order not only for the drug prob- cess during the government of Benigno lem but also for peace in the country. And then Aquino III? of course, he said he is a socialist and at the same time a friend and student of Jose Maria JR: Nothing really substantial happened, in fact, Sison who is the founding member of the Com- the first formal talks in February 2011 were the munist Party of the Philippines (CPP). So there last formal talks as well. Although in the last few is a political will and both have been showing years, starting in 2013, there were attempts to their confidence and their high trust in each start formal talks with the NDF but unfortu- other, so that is a very important factor in really nately it still did not happen. pursuing the peace talks. I think the former president and its adminis- tration lacked political will to really push What happened before the official talks in through with the talks. This is also because the Oslo, August 2016? Aquino government is more into neo liberalism, more a social democrat which is in very contrast JR: Even before Duterte formally assumed of- in the views of the NDFP. fice in June 30, he already had a meeting with the NDF spokesperson Fidel Agcaoili. Initially How come the peace talks are revived now? they already talked about the releases of the Who took the initiative? political prisoners and in fact they went beyond the release of the JASIG consultants. President JR: Even before his campaign Duterte already Duterte and NDF are saying that they will have signifies his intention to really pursue all the a general amnesty. The second one, of course, is peace talks in the Philippines, not only with the exploring the possibility of having a ceasefire. NDF but as well with the Moro Islamic Libera- And then, re-affirming the past agreements. tion Front (MILF). This, he said, is his priority In the mid of June 2016 there has been an ex- Blickwechsel | September 2016 Seite 1 President Duterte shakes hands with former National Democratic Front peace panel chair Luis Jalandoni in a meeting held in Malacañan on Sept. 26, 2016. Also in the photo are Government of the Philip- pines chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III (3rd from right) and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process ploratory talks that happened in Oslo. Part of it counter happened and with that President Jesus Dureza (2nd from right). was to talk about the amnesty proclamation, the Duterte has lifted the unilateral ceasefire on Foto: Presiden- ceasefire, re-affirmation of the talks and the re- July 30. We got worried that this could affect the tial Communica- lease of the JASIG consultants. Before the for- talks but we are happy that the talks pushed tions Facebook mal talks in August the government was able to through. Page. deliver its promise to release the 22 JASIG con- sultants of the NDF so that they could partici- What are the agreements of the first formal pate in the peace process. These are really some talks? big names in the leadership of the CPP like Wilma Tiamzon, Benito Tiamzon, Tirso Alcan- JR: One is that both had declared an indefinite tara, Alan Jazmines, Ernesto Lorenzo among unilateral ceasefire effective on August 30, others. Who of course, based on their leadership 2016. The second one, they agreed to fast-track position and expertise in the different issues can the process. According to the government they really bring a lot in the peace talks. So the re- expect to finish the agreements in one year. Re- lease of the JASIG consultants is very much wel- alistically speaking we think one year is not come for us in civil society. enough to be able to finish the agreements. The They also agreed that the next round of re- formular of both parties in order to fast-track leases will be 125 political prisoners. These are the formal talks is the agenda of the social and the sick, the elderly and the women of the polit- economic reform. Both parties have committed ical prisoners. The NDFP is waiting for their its own reciprocal working committee. But on immediate release. We hope that some of them the other hand for the next two agendas, the can be released before the next formal talks this parties agreed to come up with a reciprocal October. working group, different from the committee so Beside of that, President Duterte in his State that they can already explore, study and come of Nation Address (SONA) declared a unilateral up with its draft agreements as well. Third is ceasefire. Unfortunately, there has been some that both parties affirmed its commitment in the misunderstanding in regard to this ceasefire be- past agreements. There were ten major agree- cause the government was expecting that the ments signed during the time of Ramos, one of NDFP would immediately respond to the cease- it is the CARHRIHL (Comprehensive Agreement fire. But of course the NDFP said that they still on Respect for Human Rights and International have to review the document on the ceasefire Humanitarian Law) which is the basic founda- declaration of the government which is the sus- tion of the other three agreements. They also pension of military offensives and the suspen- decided to re-vitalize and operationalize the sion of police offensives. Three, four days after Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC). That would the unilateral ceasefire the Davao del Norte en- ensure the implementation of CARHRIHL. Seite 2 Blickwechsel | September 2016 The NDFP Panel poses for a group picture with a show of fists in solidarity with President Duterte. Foto: NDFP Interna- tional Informa- tion Office Facebook Page. Who are the advisors? Committee, JMC, and the ceasefire), the other members are Juliet De Lima (wife of Jose Maria JR: The Office of the Presidential Advisor on the Sison) and Coni Ledesma (wife of Luis Jaland- Peace Process (OPAPP) is headed by Secretary oni). The NDFP team is further made up of Be- Jesus Dureza. He is from Davao and used to be nito Tiamzon, Rafael Baylosis, Tirso Alcantara a presidential advisor for the peace process dur- and Alfredo Mapano, while Wilma Aus- ing the time of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He tria-Tiamzon, attended the discussion as ob- also played a key role in the past peace talks. server. The chairperson of the peace talks is Secretary (Editor’s note: The GPH working group is com- Silvestre Bello III, he was part of the peace ne- posed of atty. Efren Moncupa, Roberto M. Ador, gotiations in the past years and he used to be Dr. Eric Batalla, and atty. Rhia Corazon Lano. the Secretary in the Department of Justice. The The NDFP members are Julie de Lima, Alan Jaz- third one is Commissioner Rene Sarmiento. He mines, Rafael Baylosis, Randall Echanis, and was the vice chairperson of the government Adelberto Silva, as well as three additional con- panel before, during the time of President sultants.) Ramos and he became for a short time the pres- idential advisor during the time of Arroyo as On the side of the government we noticed that well. most of the members are from the academic in- Having this three key persons inside the stitutions, experts, lawyers, former part of the panel of the government is very important be- security sector, so there is really no representa- cause they have the institutional memory of the tion coming from the basic sectors and impor- past processes, second they know the NDFP tant groups in the Philippines, for example very well, they were also able to build good re- women representatives, Indigenous Peoples lationships with them which is a very important representative. We are hoping that they would factor in peace negotiation. The GPH delega- include more women, not just putting a woman tion is further made up of Dr. Francisco Lara, inside the panel but a woman that can bring Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip, Atty. Adel Abas, Senior woman’s issues, the gender issue, inside the Supt. Wilmer Panabang and Atty. Marie Dinah panel. And of course, the Indigenous Peoples Tolentino-Fuentes. Except for one Angela Leb- (IP) as well because they are affected by the rado all the members of the government panel conflict, the military operations of both parties are men. are happening in ancestral domains. So they re- On the NDF side, its main consultant is Jose ally have to be heard as well in this peace pro- Maria Sison. And the chairperson is Luis Jalan- cess. We are really pushing for independent ob- doni and its vice chairperson is Fidel Agcaoili servers, where women, church and IPs can also (he is also chairperson for the Joint Monitoring be represented. Blickwechsel | September 2016 Seite 3 What role plays the Royal Norwegian Gov- Brief History of the Conflict ernment? For more than 40 years the armed conflict be- JR: The Royal Norwegian Government through tween the government (GPH) and the Commu- its Norwegian facilitator Elizabeth Slatum facil- nist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Ar- itates the talks, so it is different from a mediator my-National Democratic Front of the Philip- role. As a facilitator the Norwegian government pines (CPP-NPA-NDFP) has been going on.