“WE NEED you to keep us talking,” was the impassioned plea of lawyer Angela Librado-Trinidad, the only woman member sitting in the Government negotiating panel in the scuttled peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to the people.
This she appealed to over a hundred peace advocates and sectoral leaders gathered in a “Konsultasyon Alang sa Kalinaw” hosted by the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) in the afternoon of February 18, 2017.
No less than ADDU president Fr. Joel Tabora welcomed the participants who said “I don’t know with you, but when I voted for President Duterte it was a vote for Peace.”
He said that many among those who cast their ballots for the former city mayor believed that the President can bring about the long dreamt-of peace.
Thus, Fr. Tabora said it was disheartening that miscommunications have ruined it, and that it would be impossible to build this country with all the killings that has resulted to the termination of the peace talks.
He then urged all participants to unite for peace because every life is precious, whether it be of a soldier, Lumads, the revolutionaries, and to “stop the killings and work for peace, make a step forward for peace.”
There had been substantial agreements already reached by both panels in the three successive rounds of talks, said Librado-Trinidad.
She shared other updates and gains generated from the talks, even when at some point, she added, that the panels had to spend four days discussing the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (Caser).
In the vernacular she said the talks was almost done discussing the biggest issue in Caser, which is the Agrarian Reform, and as she said “both parties (were) really in the fast track mode,” and that they were finding solutions along the way.
Meanwhile, lawyer Fatima Adin, the legal counsel of the NDFP explains that the Socio-Economic Reforms (SER) was meant to address the root causes of conflict, but that then, even before it could gain grounds, arrests have been made against members of the NDFP panel.
She said government must stop the directives to further arrest NDFP consultants. “If we want the peace talks to continue, we should help out,” she added.
Foremost, Atty. Adin said, “Jasig should be recognized.”
Some of the compelling reasons to continue the peace talks as enumerated by the peace advocates include the following: that Filipinos have voted for President Duterte’s stand for peace; that many among peace advocates are continuously experiencing threats and harassment especially those working with the Indigenous peoples like the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP); the community teachers and children’s advocates; the Indigenous People continue to suffer disease and death in defence of their ancestral lands against the onslaught of big mining corporations that continues to sow terror with the help of paramilitary elements;
That 60% of Filipinos still die without seeing a doctor; the urban poor continues to live in uncertainty in their everyday lives as they have no dwelling they can call their own; the educational system remains repressive and devoid of nationalism, and could not be responsive in alleviating poverty; the women and children are all compelling reasons to pursue the peace talks; that the 60 million Filipinos who voted for the President are compelling enough reason to pursue the peace talks, and many more…
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