PRESIDENT Arroyo issued Executive Order 696
last Jan. 18 creating the Payapang Bayan Task Force under the
Office of the President that will "pro-actively and exhaustively
conduct local peace initiatives and assist the President in the
campaign for peace and order in all provinces all over the
Philippines."
The new Task Force will also lay down
policies and legal groundwork for the different peace and
security programs in all provinces in the country.
The Task Force will be headed by the National
Security Council and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on
the Peace Process with members coming from the civil society,
the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, the
Presidential Legislative Liaison Office and the Departments of
National Defense, Interior and Local Government, and Justice.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the
Arroyo administration remains open to peace negotiations at the
national level but it is not giving up on the local front as
well.
He also reiterated the govern-ment’s call for
the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army
-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) to agree to a
cease-fire first before peace negotiations at the national level
could resume. "We stand by our position that a major condition
is that they should agree to a cessation of hostilities. It
doesn’t mean that we have to stonewall the process. The
government remains open to those fighting the government (but)
let’s silence the guns first," he said.
He said the government’s stand on the issue
of truce had been discussed thoroughly during a meeting of the
National Security Council Cabinet cluster and they all agreed
that a cessation of hostilities would help hasten and boost the
peace negotiations.
"What was cited by everybody is that it will help hasten the
negotiation. Kung walang putukan, lalong-lalo na ngayon…
inaantay natin ang action ng Kongreso doon sa proclamation ni
Presidente for amnesty, pagka-nagkaroon tayo ng amnesty at ang
mga fighters in the field, the NPA, suddenly they will have
cessation of hostilities, the chances of succeeding in
negotiations will be higher," he added. – Jocelyn D.
Montemayor
