Formal peace talks between the Philippine government and communist rebels appear to have hit a snag as President Rodrigo Duterte has insisted that the talks be held in the Philippines and that he does not want a third-party facilitator in the negotiations, according to a report in The Manila Times Online on Tuesday.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said the Philippine government would relay to Norway, the facilitator of peace talks since 2001, Manila’s decision to change the venue.
He said the president had emphasized that this was the talks between Filipinos, it should be held in the Philippines.
Last Thursday, President Duterte cancelled the resumption of formal talks in Oslo, Norway, scheduled for June 28. The date was agreed upon by government and National Democratic Front, the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, in a series of back-channel talks.
CPP founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison however is against holding formal talks in the Philippines, saying this will spell doom for the negotiations aimed at ending the 50-year communist insurgency.
But Roque said the president was bent on pursuing the peace process with the communists. However, he noted that any peace agreement must be all inclusive and must pass the test of both legal and political scrutiny.
Asked to comment on Sison’s statement that “ it’s the end of peace negotiations if Duterte will dictate the venue”, Roque said, “That will be sad but I’m sure that statement will not be conclusive.”
