AFP. 6 January 2002. Philippines says talks with communist insurgents to resume this month.
MANILA -- Peace talks with communist insurgents are to resume later this month despite accusations from the rebels the Philippine government has been trying to scuttle the negotiations, Manila's chief negotiator said Sunday. Leaders of the National Democratic Front have assured Manila they were not backing out from the talks, the negotiator, Silvestre Bello, told reporters. "They're still willing to resume talks. Both parties are still willing to resume talks. We're looking at a resumption within this month," Bello told reporters. Bello's statement came a day after the communist leadership said Manila was "actively engaged in scuttling" the talks by allegedly deliberately failing to submit a "note verbale" informing the Norwegian government of the negotiations. Norway hosted the peace negotiations until they were suspended by President Gloria Arroyo last year when the communists' armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA) assassinated two Philippine legislators. The talks were set to resume Monday in Oslo, but the Norwegian government has not been able to prepare a venue in the absence of an official note verbale from Manila, the communists said. But Bello said the January 7-11 scheduled talks were "only tentative" and that they could still take place later this month pending the resolution of certain issues, including "confidence-building measures to create a conducive atmosphere" for the negotiations. He did not elaborate on what form the confidence-building measures might take, but the Philippine government has been calling on the rebels to promise to stop carrying out political assassinations. Arroyo's spokesman, Rigoberto Tiglao, said the president wanted the talks to be informal and away from the media spotlight so both parties to concentrate and agree on a final peace accord, rather than do it in stages. "What the president wants is for everything to be settled before a comprehensive agreement would be worked on, and we feel that it might be better for both sides that it doesn't become a media event," Tiglao said. "We hope that the (communist leadership) would consider their position," Tiglao said. "We don't understand why they have made this announcement despite the fact that (Silvestre) Bello has been in constant talk with them." Communist party founder Jose Maria Sison, in a statement from his office in the Netherlands Sunday, accused Manila of being "double-faced" regarding the negotiations. Manila was also allegedly trying to push the rebels "into a position of capitulation through a series of back-channel talks" instead of formal negotiations, Sison said. The 12,000 strong NPA is the armed unit of the communists, who have been waging a Maoist rebellion for more than three decades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
