PRESIDENTIAL Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said Monday he had asked the United States and other partner nations to consider removing the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and National Democratic Front from their list of international terrorists to move the peace process forward.
“I trust [delisting] will move the peace process forward,” Dureza said.
“They are partners, the EU and the US. I think they will concede to probably something good for the Philippines.”
Dureza on Monday also confirmed that Princess Astrid of Belgium will be visiting Manila soon to discuss her country’s ties with the Philippines.
“I flew to Brussels because the Belgian government, which hosts the EU, was interested to know about the peace process and because of the planned visit of Princess Astrid who will come in May 2017 to head a high-level economic team for investments,” Dureza said.
CPP founder Jose Maria Sison was first included in the US list of foreign terrorists on Aug. 12, 2002, and in a similar Dutch list on Aug. 13, 2002.
Later, when Sison’s lawyers announced they would challenge his inclusion in the Dutch list, his listing was withdrawn but the The Hague demanded Sison be included in the EU terrorist list in October 2002.
On Sept. 30, 2009, however, the European Court of First Instance in Luxemburg removed Sison from the list, but Sison’s movements remained restricted because of the risk that he would be arrested due to his inclusion in the US list of terrorists.
Dureza said no formal communication about the delisting was mentioned in his visit to Brussels, but he hoped the EU and the US “will not provide the stumbling blocks” toward peace.
He met with EU representatives in Brussels following the peace talks with the NDF in Oslo.
“The EU already removed Joma Sison,” Dureza said.
“Only the CPP-NPA-NDF are listed. We did not discuss this in my meeting with them. It is premature yet.”
