TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan- Ex-officio board member Maila Ting-Que has called on women in the province to support the resumption of the stalled peace talk negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Minutes before a motorcade to celebrate Women Month in this city yesterday, Ting-Que, a staunch supporter of the peace process said the resumption of the peace negotiation is important and should be a concern of everybody.
“We want to call on all women in the province and elsewhere to support this. We want the peace talk to continue,” she said.
Earlier, a day after lifting the unilateral ceasefire, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was terminating formal peace negotiations with the rebels and ordered government panel to “fold up the tent and come home.”
Ting-Que said that as a local legislator, it is her duty to protect the interest of the people a the resumption of the peace talks will bring calm and sobriety in an otherwise unstable peace situation in some parts of the country.
“It is the women and children who are most affected here if both parties will not return to the negotiating table,” she added.
Malacanang has expressed hope for substantial progress in the peace talks despite the move of the President.
Duterte reportedly said peace talks will remain cancelled unless there is a compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation.
Convened by Gabriela Cagayan Valley, the three-day Peace Ta Kababaihan which kicked off yesterday in Tuguegarao City aimed at getting public support for the resumption of the peace talks and to celebrate the gains and pains of women in the region.
“We are supporting the continuation of the negotiation on the peace process. This celebration is to further advocate prevailing women issues in the region and help the country attain peace,” Jane Ruiz, president of Gabriela-Cagayan Valley told the Forum yesterday.
The Communist Party of the Philippines was founded in December 1968 by Literature professor Jose Maria Sison and is an underground political organization of Marxist ideologies that seek to overthrow the government.
On March 1969, the New Peoples Army was founded. –Northernforum.net
