DESPITE the communists’ many demands, government peace negotiators are ready to manage the rebels’ expectations amid concerns about the possibility of the peace talks collapsing, a senior Cabinet official said Friday.
Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said they remained “hopeful” and “optimistic” about resolving the issues on the communist insurgency.
“Negotiators must always be hopeful and optimistic. But we must manage all expectations because the [communist] rebellion cannot be wished away just like that,” Dureza said.
He said the government was already working on the National Democratic Front’s repeated demand to release all political prisoners as agreed upon.
Labor Secretary and government chief negotiator Silvestre Bello said a final peace deal would have to be signed soon so that “this can be implemented under the Duterte administration.”
In a recent statement, Bello said it was time to end the war in the countryside for the sake of the combatants and the communities affected.
The communists want the release of more than 400 alleged political prisoners, but Dureza says Duterte is still studying whom to release and whom to keep in jail.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Thursday that, despite the peace talks resuming soon in Rome, the risk of armed hostilities erupting anew remained real.
He said there were many demands on the part of the NDF “which the President does not like.”
In some of his public statements, Duterte has said he may grant amnesty to all the communist rebels, including those jailed for many years for criminal offenses, as part of the efforts to forge lasting and genuine peace.
This has led to the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by the government.
Lorenzana says war is inevitable if the peace talks collapse.
The next round of talks to be held in Rome will focus on social and economic reforms.
At least two days have been dedicated for the talks on social and economic reforms during the five-day talks that begin on Jan. 19.