Gov’t-NDF talks should go on

We, members of Pilgrims for Peace, want peace, harmony and prosperity in our land.

The armed conflict between the Philippine government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) has been going on with no letup for 45 years. Hundreds of people, combatants and noncombatants alike, have died; civilian communities have been displaced; and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been rampant. Among the victims are those who lost their lives in the quest for a just and lasting peace so that fellow Filipinos may live a full and fulfilling life.

The root causes of the armed conflict must be addressed.

The recent arrest of the Tiamzon couple and five others has once again brought into the public’s attention the armed conflict as well as the peace negotiations between the government and the NDF, including the issues that have stalled the peace talks for about three years—like the compliance or noncompliance of the bilateral agreements entered into by both parties, especially The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig), and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (Carhrihl).

We call on both parties to go back to the negotiating table and discuss and resolve their disagreements and differences over the interpretation of terms and conditions of their agreements, and the  alleged and actual violations of the agreements; and to avail themselves of the mechanisms they had put in place precisely to remove such obstacles to peace. Once the negotiations resume, the Filipino people will have every reason to be optimistic about peace once more.

Currently, the government and the NDF talks are at an impasse, but not terminated. In fact, the negotiating panels of both the government and the NDF have not been dissolved. But while the two panels are not talking, human rights violations are increasing and intensifying; and poverty and hunger remain a daily reality to many Filipinos. This should push both panels back to the negotiating table and tackle the talks’ second substantive agenda on socioeconomic reforms.

We want peace in our land. We want harmony among our people. We want progress for our country. These will come to pass only when we start working together, feeding on justice and righteousness.

We call on both parties to honor all their prior bilateral agreements, big and small, especially the framework agreement or The Hague Joint Declaration, the Carhrihl and the Jasig, for the peace negotiations to advance and reach its desired conclusion of a just and lasting peace.

—SR. MAUREEN CATABIAN, RGS, and REV. HOMAR DISTAJO, convenors, Pilgrims for Peace, [email protected]