Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer Isko Moreno Domagoso on Monday said he is open to dropping the terrorist tags against the National Democratic Front (NDF), the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and its military arm, the New People’s Army (NPA) if they are willing to give peace another chance in the negotiating table.
“The terrorist tag is done by the United States and the Philippine government. As long as I say, the peace talks we must seek for it as much as possible not only with the CPP-NPA but also to those other armed groups” Moreno, a former peace talks observer, said.
“In the meantime, if they are willing to talk and if they want a peaceful way of living, our fellow Filipinos also have the right to live in peace and tranquility. Nowadays it’s hard to find peace, sometimes a very expensive word but we must seek for long and just peace in our country because every Filipino deserves it,” he added.
Moreno made the remarks when asked by reporters in Lucena City, Quezon province if he is willing to remove the terrorist tag against the NDF-CPP-NPA as a confidence-building measure that will pave the way for the resumption of peace talks under an “Isko Moreno Domagoso presidency.”
Moreno said the success of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), could serve as a possible inspiration for other armed groups such as the CPP-NPA to forge a lasting peace with the government.
“What has been achieved in BARMM, because we have personally seen that the future of BARMM, of our Moro compatriots, looks good. So, we should not despair. While it is true that we will not give up the state, a government will remain, the Philippines is just a flag,” Moreno said.
Moreno was an “official observer” during the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front, a coalition of underground revolutionary organizations that are believed to be under the baton of CPP leaders based in the Netherlands.
It was during the series of peace negotiations he attended as an observer in the 2016 peace talks in Oslo, Norway, that Moreno was able to know CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison and other top officials of the CPP and NDF.
Moreno said one of the ways for the peace talks to succeed is to ensure social programs and equal opportunity to the people, especially the less fortunate ones, that can be provided by the government.