Aquino
should take stand
on peace talks – Ocampo
BY RANIE S. AZUE
BACOLOD City – Former Party List Representative and
Bayan Muna National Chairperson Satur Ocampo said President
Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s first State of the Nation
Address (SONA) was disappointing, particularly on the peace
talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and
its armed wing New People’s Army (NPA).
Ocampo said Aquino did not take his own stand
on the issue and only adopted that of his mother, former President
Corazon Aquino.
Corazon Aquino negotiated with the insurgents,
adopting the “no ceasefire, no peace talk,” which
was rejected by the CPP outright.
Ocampo urged Aquino to give a clear stand
on the matter, like that on the Moro separatist groups. He
quoted Aquino saying he will “continue what the previous
administration started.”
He also dared Aquino to make a stand on extrajudicial
killings allegedly caused by Oplan Bantay Laya of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines.
“Aquino only mentioned the progress
of three out of six killings committed after he assumed office,
but not the thousands of extrajudicial killings during the
Arroyo administration,” Ocampo said.
In his SONA, Aquino said he can call for an
immediate ceasefire and negotiate with the rebels so long
as they agree to find solutions to problems.
“To the CPP-NPA-NDF: Are you prepared
to put forth concrete solutions rather than pure criticism
and finger-pointing? If it is peace you truly desire, then
we are ready to call for an immediate ceasefire. Let us go
back to the table and begin talking again,” Aquino stressed.
Ocampo said he is not blaming Aquino for having
limited information about the peace talks’ actual status.
Rather, he blamed Sec. Teresa Deles, presidential
adviser on the peace process, for not updating the President.
He said he was once part of the peace talks
during Corazon Aquino’s administration.
That time, he said, Deles also represented
the government.
The peace talks between the government and
CPP was already on second agenda until it was suspended by
former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Done during the administration of former President
Joseph Estrada, the first agenda covered the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Respect of the International Humanitarian
Law. It was already approved by the two parties, and they
were discussing socioeconomic reforms when Arroyo suspended
the talks, Ocampo explained.
If Aquino wants concrete solutions to the
problem, he should consider the proposals laid by the CPP
panel during the previous administrations, he said./PN
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