Word: mitra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...have no doubt that the next phase will be even more difficult," declared the government's chief negotiator with the rebels, Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra, "but the obstacles will be overcome." The agreement with the Communist-dominated National Democratic Front, the political umbrella organization for the 20,000-member New People's Army, permits as many as 50 rebel negotiators to set up a headquarters in Manila. They will be immune from official search, arrest and prosecution. The armed forces will retain the right to respond to "hostile acts" by the N.P.A. during the truce...
Before the signing, Mitra held a press conference with the N.D.F.'s chief negotiator, Satur Ocampo. Both men sounded guardedly hopeful. "We're holding onto our guns," said Ocampo. "It will be a cease-fire in place." Still, he pledged that the rebels, who control 18% of the country's 42,000 villages, would honor the truce. Said Mitra, for his part: "Both sides won the war." He added that the negotiations had been "eased through friendship and goodwill," noting that he and the N.D.F. negotiators had been journalistic colleagues long before President Ferdinand Marcos declared war on the insurgents...
Despite the attacks, preliminary cease-fire talks were held. Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra, one of the two government negotiators selected by President Aquino, said both sides were completing "the framework for the talks...
...balance on the other side, Aquino chose two center-left Assemblymen from the Pilipino Democratic Party-Laban. Aquilino Pimentel, 50, repeatedly jailed during the Marcos period for opposing the government, became Minister of Local Government, while Ramon Mitra, 58, an outspoken rancher, assumed the post of Minister of Agriculture. Aquino repaid debts to political independents who strongly supported her during the bitterly contested election. Among them: Jaime Ongpin, 47, the chairman of the Benguet Mining Corp. and one of her main campaign strategists, who was named Finance Minister, and Jose Concepcion, 54, a businessman and head of the National Movement...
Aquino's continuing resistance to Marcos' victory is nothing more than a calculated gamble that may yet provoke incalculable upheaval. Says Ramon Mitra, a National Assemblyman and an Aquino adviser: "We don't know whether we will be able to keep control over this. But we thought we would take the risk. We have to send a message to our friends that we are not taking this sitting down...