Fisherfolk group rejoices as 9 NDFP consultants were released for peace talks
Manila, Philippines – The militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya-Pilipinas) lauds the release of the nine consultants of the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) for formal peace negotiations between the latter and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in Oslo, Norway starting this August 20.
“Peace is in the air and we can smell it. The release of these peace consultants were a very good start towards the just and lasting peace in the country that everyone longs for,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya Chairperson said in a statement.
The nine NDFP consultants that were released this week were Maria Concha Araneta, Renante Gamara, Ernesto Lorenzo, Ruben Saluta, Alan Jazmines, Tirso Alcantara, Alfred Mapano and Kennedy Bangibang and Jaime Soledad.
“We direly support the peace talks between the GPH and NDFP and will push for its final peaceful conclusion for this won’t only bring the decades-old civil war in the country to its final curtain, but also an end to the enduring poverty suffered by the Filipino people under this tattered ruling system,” Hicap said.
The NDFP has comprehensive and substantive agendas that will genuinely address and resolve the plight of the Filipino people like landlessness, joblessness, poverty and injustice through its Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER).
Meanwhile, Pamalakaya still calls on the Duterte administration for the unconditional release of the remaining hundreds of political prisoners that were still behind bars for some absurd trumped-up criminal charges filed by past administrations. Also needs to be released immediately are the NDFP Consultants Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria who were allowed to join the peace talks by the Manila Court. ###
