Sison ready to talk with Duterte but not in PHL

Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison on Thursday expressed willingness to have a one-on-one talk with President Rodrigo Duterte, but not in the Philippines.

“It is premature for me to go to the Philippines before the mutual approval of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms,” Sison said in a message to GMA News Online.

He said he will let the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines negotiating panels “work this out first in a neutral venue abroad for the benefit of the people, especially with regard to genuine land reform and national industrialization.”

Sison said he can meet with Duterte after the formal resumption of the peace talks.

“I am willing to meet with President Duterte in a country near the Philippines after the formal resumption of the peace negotiations and the mutual approval of the Interim Peace Agreement, provided the Royal Norwegian Government as third party facilitator helps in securing the necessary political, legal and security guarantees from a number of pertinent countries,” he said.

He explained that he would be putting the prospect of peace negotiations at risk if he will make himself available for any kind of attack by officers of the Armed Forces and Philippine National Police who only wanted to get rid of him.

“AFP and PNP think that they can end the revolutionary movement by getting rid of me and [those] who are increasingly disobedient to President Duterte and continue to make offensive movements despite the current ceasefire ordered by the CPP to the NPA,” he said.

He said that imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism are the basic problems plaguing Filipinos.

“I will work with anyone who notices these three elephants in the room and agrees with me that these problems must be solved in order to achieve full national independence, democracy and social justice which are the guiding principles of the peace negotiations as set forth by he Hague Joint Declaration of 1992,” he said.

Earlier in the day, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte wanted Sison to return to the Philippines for a one-on-one talk with him.

“May I just say that the President is daring him to come home to the Philippines and have a one-on-one talk with the President even before this panel—no government panel involved, no panel on the communist side,” Panelo said in a press briefing. — BM, GMA News