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