“(The) NDFP ( National Democratic Front of the Philippines) is always open to peace negotiations with the GRP ( Government of the Republic of the Philippines) whoever is president. It was Duterte who terminated the peace negotiations in 2017…but if the incoming Marcos administration is willing to talk, why not?” said Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison when asked about the prospects of resuming the stalled talks during the launch of his latest book “On the GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations” last June 28th.

This was an online event organized by the NDFP International Information Office and the International Network for Philippine Studies (INPS).

The book is the ninth installment in the Sison Reader Series ? a collection of publications compiling the best of Sison’s writings under specific themes in various periods.

The book, Sison explained, chronicles his articles, letters and statements on the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations since the ceasefire talks in 1986 following the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship and up to the most recent presidential elections where Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was proclaimed winner despite massive electoral fraud.

In his remarks, Sison criticized Marcos Jr’s as “lacking any moral authority for having been falsely elected to the presidency through the non-transparent and fraudulent automated election system manipulated by the tyrant Duterte and his cabal in the Comelec.”

“But right now, there are no indications that Marcos would like peace talks.. Resuming peace negotiations is quite easy…by simply reaffirming the agreements that were previously agreed upon and signed by the two parties in the negotiations,” Sison added.

While Sison stressed the NDFP’s policy of openness to peace talks, he however noted the impossibility of resuming the negotiations amid the GRP’s current policy of all-out war. “There is nothing that the NDFP can do to resume the peace negotiations if the GRP insists on carrying out an all-out war policy,” Sison said.

“The Marcos fascist dictatorship never engaged the NDFP in peace negotiations and never succeeded in destroying the revolutionary movement. Instead, this movement of the people succeeded in expanding nationwide…ultimately causing the downfall of the fascist dictatorship,” Sison cautioned the incoming administration.

“Not a single post-Marcos regime ever spent a total of more than one year of attention to peace negotiations…Each of the post-Marcos regimes from Aquino to Duterte had the uniform objective of using the peace negotiations only for a few months and not for more than a year, as a means of lip service to the cause of peace, carrying out military surveillance, preserving the exploitative and oppressive ruling system and trying to maneuver the NDFP into a position of capitulation,” he added. NDFPIO Media