PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the conduct of backchannel negotiations with the leaders of the communist movement, including Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria "Joma" Sison.
Avelino Andal, board member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, confirmed Tuesday, January 15, that Duterte ordered him last week to lead the backdoor talks with Sison and other communist leaders.
Andal revealed that he has sent "feelers" to the communist party about Duterte's directive.
"'Yung atas sa akin ng Pangulo na makipag-backchannel talk para makabalik muli sa usapang pangkapayapaan 'yung magkabilang panig (The President's directive was to conduct backchannel talk, as he aims to resume the formal peace dialogue between the two parties)," he said in a phone-patch interview with reporters.
"Makipag-backchannel talks doon sa mga lider ng CPP, kay Joma, kabilang syempre si Joma na nasa ibabaw o lider ng lahat (We'll have backchannel talks with the CPP leaders, including Joma who serves as the communists' leader)," he added.
Duterte had a warm relationship with the communist guerillas during his first few months in office.
The current administration and the communist party's relationship, however, turned sour following the series of attacks staged by the New People's Army (NPA), armed wing of the CPP, against the government troops despite the ongoing peace talks.
The NPA's attacks prompted Duterte to terminate the peace negotiations with the communists in November 2017 and branded the NPA members as a terrorist group in December the same year.
This time, Andal said Duterte is keen on mending ties with the communist rebels.
Andal said Duterte did not set a timeline for the backchannel talks with the communists, which would hopefully pave the way for the revival of a formal peace dialogue.
"Ramdam ko na gusto talaga ng Presidente Duterte na magkaroon ng katahimikan sa ating bayan at magkasundu-sundo ang lahat ng pwersa at paksyon at grupo na hindi pa nagkakasundo at this point in time," he said.
(I feel that President Duterte really wants to achieve peace in the country and make all different forces, factions,a nd groups work in unison at this point in time.)
"Dahil naniniwala siya na ang katahimikan ng bayan ang susi sa mas mabilis na pag-unlad na nais niya para sa sambayanang Pilipino (Duterte believes that achieving peace in the country is the key for a speedy development that he wants for the Filipino people)," Andal added.
In an interview with Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said he was unaware of Duterte's latest order, but stressed that the President has always been open to possible resumption of peace negotiations.
Panelo stressed that Duterte always "reserves an opening, window for them to sit on the negotiation table."
He said the government was hopeful that the communists would heed the President's call to stop their ambuscades and extortion activities, conditions the President had provided for the revival of talks.
"He (Duterte) has been open to that ever since. The only condition is to stop doing ambuscade and extortion activites because he doesn't want Filipinos killing each other. That has been his line and policy ever since, even when he was still a mayor," the Palace official said.
"Enough for this ambuscade, enough for these extortion activities and we will sit down. And most likely, they may finally listen to the urgings of the President. I think they're also tired fighting government," he added. (SunStar Philippines)