The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) appointed Ju­lie­ta de Li­ma last August 19 as temporary chairperson of its peace panel following the recent death of former chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili.

NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said that de Lima is the most senior among the members of the NDFP peace panel.

Sison said that there is no rush to appoint replacements for Agcaoili, as well as for Randall Echanis who was murdered last week. He added that “the NDFP has enough time to complete the working committees before peace negotiations will probably resume after Duterte is gone.”

Agcaoili formerly headed the NDFP section of the Joint Secretariat and Joint Monitoring Committee under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).