NDFP mulls cancelling chief negotiator’s visit to Aquino

The communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on Tuesday said it is reconsidering its plan to send its chief negotiator to Manila for a courtesy call to President Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III next month, citing the government’s “negative attitude" towards the visit. NDFP negotiating panel vice-chairperson Fidel Agcaoili said the group is thinking of canceling chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni’s courtesy call to Aquino on December because, he said, the government seems not to be interested in any dialogue. “The brutes on the government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP)’s side do not seem to appreciate the idea of courtesy call on Noynoy as a gesture of goodwill," he said in a statement sent to the media. He added that the Aquino government “is showing a certain measure of unreasonableness and hostility" to the NDFP because of its “failure" to release more than 300 political prisoners put in jail during the previous administration. “By all indications, the Aquino regime is condoning all the human rights violations committed by the Arroyo regime and is committing its own crimes against the people, social activists and suspected revolutionaries," he said. The NDFP also expressed dissatisfaction over the Aquino administration’s “extreme slowness in moving for the resumption of the formal talks" between the group and the government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). Government peace talks with the NPA collapsed in 2004 after rebels accused then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of reneging on several agreements, among them the release of all political prisoners in the country and the removal of the terrorist tag on the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its political wing, the NDFP. Aquino earlier formed a five-member panel to jumpstart peace negotiations with communist rebels. - Andreo Calonzo/KBK, GMANews.TV