Will A “Hugo Chavez-type” End the Filipino Revolution?

[The question arises: Can populist rhetoric sway hearts and minds without petrodollars?  —  Frontlines ed.]

Joma sees Duterte as Pinoy-version of Hugo Chavez

October 10, 2015

by JEFRY M. TUPAS, CORRESPONDENT, The Manila Times

UTRECHT, The Netherlands: Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), made himself clear—he did not endorse Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as his preferred next president of the Philippines.

“But how can I do that when he did not yet declare that he is running for president?” he said laughing, in front of him a cup of brewed coffee sitting cold – untouched – on a long white table, the ‘centerpiece’ inside the office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) here.

Philippines: Press reports and Wikileaks cast doubt on peace talks, Sison authority

NDF negotiators meet Norwegian envoy in bid to break impasse

05-Sep-11, 2011 | Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines – Communist rebel negotiators met a special Norwegian envoy on Monday in a fresh bid to reopen stalled peace talks to end a four-decade war with the government, aides said.

The chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front, Luis Jalandoni, met the envoy at the embassy in Manila but details of the talks were not disclosed, the rebels’ secretariat said.

Government negotiator Alexander Padilla told AFP he would meet the Norwegian envoy on Tuesday but he did not know if the rebel negotiators would be at the talks as well.

Norway, which has been brokering the on-and-off talks, sent the envoy, Ture Lundh, to Manila after negotiations stalled over the demand of the NDF that the government free 13 captured comrades it said are consultants of its peace negotiating panel.

The two sides hope to seal a peace accord by June 2012 but the new impasse has soured ties, with the government accusing the NDF of bad faith for kidnapping a town mayor and four jail guards recently.

Meanwhile, recent US embassy cables leaked by the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks revealed splits within the insurgent leadership, with self-exiled rebel founder Jose Maria Sison losing influence.

Philippines: Government and National Democratic Front agree to reopen peace talks in February, set 16 day cease fire

Straits Times, December 3, 2010

Philippines, Maoists to resume talks

MANILA – The Philippines and Maoist rebels have agreed to resume peace talks early next year, officials said on Friday, the first breakthrough in tackling either of two long-running insurgencies since the new government came to office this year.

After two days of informal talks in Hong Kong on Wednesday and Thursday, the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) also agreed on a 19-day Christmas ceasefire starting December 16, which if it holds would be the longest in 10 years.

Right: Relatives and friends hold photos of loved ones among the 43 men and women arrested earlier in the year as suspected communist rebels during a rally in front of the Department of Justice in Manila.

There have been on-off talks since 1986 to end an insurgency that began in the 1960s and has killed 20,000 people and scared off potential investors in resource-rich rural communities.

Alexander Padilla, the government’s chief peace negotiator, told reporters the two sides would have another informal meeting next month ahead of the resumption of formal talks in Oslo, Norway in February. ‘This would again be the first of such talks after having been suspended last August 2005,’ he said, adding the government is committed to a ‘just and honourable settlement of conflicts’.

In a statement, NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni reiterated the Maoists’ call for the release of 43 health workers detained on suspicion of being rebels and three rebel leaders who it says are part of the negotiations.