Palace says Joma Sison not in position to set conditions for his return
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison is not in the position to set conditions for his return in the country, Malacanang said on Monday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque was reacting to Sison's statement he would return to the country once there are substantial advancements to the peace talks so they could no longer be stalled by "peace spoilers."
"I don't know if he is in a position to provide conditions," he said in a press briefing.
"What the President (Rodrigo Duterte) said was if peace talks will resume, he is welcome to come home. The president will assure his security and the fact that he will not be arrested. Beyond that, the president has not acceded to any further terms," Roque said.
Duterte has said he would give a 60-day "window" for the revival of the peace talks with the CPP-New People's Army-National Democratic Front.
According to him, in his talks with Sison, he urged him to go home and participate in the peace negotiation.
Sison has been in exile in the Netherlands since 1987.
The leftist rebel leader said before the resumption of the peace negotiation, both the government and the NDF, the political wing of the CPP-NPA, should come up with a memorandum of agreement on the need to respect existing deals prior to Proclamation No. 360, which terminated the peace process.
He said both sides should draft mutually satisfactory agreements on ceasefire and amnesty of the political prisoners as well as the parts of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and National Industrialization and Economic Development.
Asked how the government would secure the rebel leader on his way back to the country considering that Sison has been on the terror list of the United States, Roque said, "That's beyond our control...it's up to him (how he can come back home). Perhaps, he should take Philippine Airlines. That's the only way. I am not promoting Philippine Airlines incidentally."
He also said the 60-day window for the peace talks would start as soon as both sides have agreed to resume peace talks. Celerina Monte/DMS
