Months ago, the government has already announced that there will be peace talks between the communist rebels and the government in order to end on of Asia’s longest communist rebellions. However, this plan is put on hold because of the demand of the rebels to drop warrant arrest for two guerillas in hiding.
On Saturday, the scheduled meeting in Norway is supposed to restart the peace talks that collapsed in 2004 after the communist New People’s Army blamed the government for its inclusion on US and European lists of terrorists groups.
The communist group has been around the Philippines for almost 40 years to create a Marxist state and has claimed about 120,000 lives and according to the government it is the reason for stunting economic growth.
A Norway-brokered meeting in Oslo last June led to an agreement to continue the talks but was later on postponed due to the disputes over the release of several jailed rebels who would be consultants in the said talks. According to reports, the rebels proposed Saturday’s informal meeting in Oslo to settle the differences. The government said it was open to holding the meeting but there is still a need to resolve the legal issues first.
It’s just being postponed,” Presidential Peace Adviser Avelino Razon told The Associated Press. “We are still open to pursuing the offer to hold informal talks.” But on the side of the rebels, the government officials are full of hypocrisy. According to Fidel Agcaoili, rebel peace panel spokesman, said that that officials are preventing the continuance of talks by imposing new demands such as discussing disarmament before talking about social, political and economic reforms.
In June, the government agreed to renew immunity guarantees suspended in 2005 that shield 87 rebel negotiators and consultants from arrest while involved in the talks.
Razon said the government also agreed to free four rebels, and two have been released.
But rebel leaders have rejected as “death warrants” the government’s offer of safe conduct passes for the two guerrillas in hiding, and they want the guerrillas’ arrest warrants recalled, he said.
Prosecutors have rejected the request, saying criminal cases against the rebels might be weakened, Razon said. Government negotiators met Thursday with Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera about a possible solution, he said.
The military has been carrying out sporadic offensives aimed at crushing the insurgency before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is to step down next June.
