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When peace dialogues should be ongoing, Marcos gov’t pronounces revolutionary groups as ‘terrorists’

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The Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government maintains its designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) as so-called terrorist organizations and declared two National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultants as alleged terrorist individuals.

On separate resolutions passed around the time when Malacañan Palace announced efforts to resume formal peace negotiations with the NDFP, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) said that based on evidence gathered by law enforcement agencies, the basis for the designation on the CPP and NPA still exists.

ATC Resolution 54–approved last December 6 but only uploaded only last Wednesday to the Manila government’s Official Gazette website–alleges that both the CPP and the NPA committed 268 “atrocities” from December 2020 to August 2023.

The ATC first designated the CPP and the NPA as “terrorist organizations” in its Resolution No. 17 passed in 2021.

ATC Resolution 53, also approved last December 6 but only uploaded last April 17, designated NDFP peace consultant Elizabeth Principe as a so-called terrorist individual.

Earlier ATC Resolution 52, approved last October 25 but only uploaded to the Official Gazette last January 9, also declared Ma. Concepcion Araneta-Bocala as a so-called terrorist individual.

The ATC alleges that both Principe and Araneta-Bocala are CPP Central Committee members and are thus qualified for the designation.

Resolution 53 also alleges the elderly Principe has participated in NPA attacks in Cagayan Valley as late as March 2023, such as in the burning of heavy mining and dam construction equipment in Isabela Province.

Principe has attended a formal round of peace negotiations between the Benigno Aquino Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP in Oslo, Norway January 2011 while Araneta-Bocala has repeatedly attended formal peace negotiations with the Rodrigo Duterte administration throughout Europe from 2016 to 2017.

Both peace consultants are GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees documents of identification holders and included in a reconstituted list of protected peace talks personnel submitted to the Old Catholic Church Patriarch in The Netherlands in 2017.

The GRP already included Araneta-Bocala in an earlier list of so-called terrorists under the Human Security Act of 2007.

The ATC resolutions were signed by Marcos’ executive secretary, Atty. Lucas Bersamin, as chairperson of the ATC as well as other council officials.

The council was created by the passage of Republic Act 11479, otherwise known as the Anti-Terror Act of 2020.

‘Talking to terrorists?’

ATC’s approval of its resolutions 53 and 54 came mere days after both GRP, NDFP and Royal Norwegian Government, Third Party Facilitator to the peace process, simultaneously announced that dialogues between the parties have resumed to try to revive the stalled formal talks last November 28.

ATC’s uploading of both resolutions to the Official Gazette also came at a time when further dialogues between both parties were expected.

The parties’ simultaneous press conferences last November 28 said that further dialogues may be expected in the first quarter of the current year.

The CPP, NPA and NDFP dispute the designation and were affirmed by a September 2022 Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) decision junking their attempted proscription by the GRP as “terrorists”.

In a 135-page resolution penned by Presiding Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar, the Manila RTC said a perusal of the CPP-NPA’s program shows that it is organized not for the purpose of engaging in terrorism.

NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Julie de Lima earlier told Kodao that the retraction of the terrorist designation of the revolutionary groups shall be among the issues to be discussed in further dialogues with the GRP as part of efforts to resume formal peace negotiations.

“They can’t be negotiating with parties they allege to be terrorists, can they?” de Lima said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)  

NDFP consultants welcome return of peace talks to national level

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Detained National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultants welcome reported dialogues to revive stalled formal peace negotiations with the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), expressing hope to join the talks if efforts succeed.

Long-time NDFP consultant Vicente Ladlad said they welcome efforts to resume formal peace talks with the GRP and the start of its policy changes regarding negotiations with the revolutionary Left.

“It is good they (GRP) decided to elevate peace talks to the national level once again and reverse former president Rodrigo Duterte’s policy of so-called localized peace talks,” Ladlad said.

The 30-year veteran of the GRP-NDFP talks noted that Duterte was of the “mistaken” belief that the GRP shall have eliminated the NPA by the end of his term in June 2022.

“Apparently, they realized that under Marcos Jr., they realized that the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA (New People’s Army)-NDFP is still a viable force. That is why they are going back to negotiating with the NDFP,” Ladlad added.

Following Duterte’s cancellation of formal negotiations in mid-2017, no local CPP, NPA and NDFP formation has also officially engaged the GRP in so-called localized peace talks, the groups clarifying they have only authorized the NDFP Negotiating Panel to negotiate with the Manila government.

Outstanding issues

Ladlad said that one of the hurdles in efforts to revive the talks is Vice President Sara Duterte’s open opposition to the policy change on negotiations with the NDFP.

He said the vice president’s statement on the peace efforts was “very hostile and belligerent” to her president, Marcos Jr.

In an interview after the simultaneous announcement by the NDFP, GRP and the Royal Norwegian Government—Third Party Facilitator of the peace talks–of ongoing dialogues to revive negotiations last December, Vice President Duterte said it was “an agreement with the devil.”

NDFP peace consultant Adelberto Silva for his part said another hurdle to the success of the ongoing dialogues is the insistence of other officials in the Marcos Jr. cabinet to do away with previously signed agreements such as The Hague Joint Declaration and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

Silva said that The Hague Joint Declaration should remain as the framework of the negotiations as it had already been signed and reaffirmed by both parties numerous times.

“The GRP must also guarantee the safety of the consultants the NDFP wishes to join in the revived peace talks under the JASIG,” Silva said.

Both consultants added the Marcos Jr. GRP must remember that the negotiations are not just about ending the armed conflict but addressing its root causes.

“Otherwise, that’s just surrender talks,” they said.

In an interview with Kodao, NDFP Negotiating Panel chairperson Julie de Lima said there have been at least five dialogues with GRP emissaries since early 2022 when NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison was still alive. (Sison died of illness in December 2022.)

The first four dialogues happened in The Netherlands and the fifth was in Oslo where the November 26, 2023 Joint Communique was signed between GRP officials and the NDFP Negotiating Panel.

De Lima said it was former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Emmanuel Bautista who initiated the dialogues who was later joined by Presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. and Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo  Jr. at the fifth round of dialogues in Oslo, Norway. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Huling Bahagi)

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Sa ika-apat at huling episode ng panayam na ito, sinagot ni National Democratic Front of the Philippines Negotiating Panel Chairperson Julie de Lima Sison kung ano ang kabuluhan ng ikatlong kilusang pagwawasto ng Communist Party of the Philippines sa usapang pangkapayapaan. Mangyayari ba ang pagpapasuko ng administrasyong Marcos Jr. sa rebolusyonaryong kilusan? Ano ang epekto sa pagkawala nina Prof. Joma Sison, Fidel Agcaoili, Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria at iba pa sa negosasyon? Ano ang panawagan niya sa mga kasapi ng NDFP at mamamayan kaugnay sa usapang pangkapayapaan?

PANOORIN:

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Ikatlong Bahagi)

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Ikalawang Bahagi)

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Unang Bahagi)

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Ikatlong Bahagi)

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Ikatlong Bahagi)

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Sa episode na ito, ano ang masasabi ni National Democratic Front of the Philippines Negotiating Panel Chairperson Julie de Lima Sison sa mga pahayag ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaang Marcos Jr. kung ano ang gusto nilang katangian ng sinusubukang buhayin na usapang pangkapayapaan? Bakit nga ba nakikipag-usap ang NDFP sa isa na namang gubyernong Marcos? Ano nga ba ang tunay na interes ng gobyernong Marcos Jr. sa mga diskusyon sa posibleng pagbuhay ng usapang pangkapayapaan? Paano kapaki-pakinabang ang usapang pangkapayapaan sa mga maiinit na isyung pambayan?

PANOORIN:

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Unang Bahagi)

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Ikalawang Bahagi)

PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Ikalawang Bahagi)

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Sa episode na ito, ibinahagi ni National Democratic Front of the Philippines Negotiating Panel Chairperson Julie de Lima Sison ang kwento kung paano nagsimula ang kasalukuyang pag-uusap sa posibleng pagbuhay ng negosasyong pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng kanilang panig at ng Gubyerno ng Republika ng Pilipinas sa ilalim ng administrasyong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Sino ang unang lumapit? Ano ang mga isyung kanilang pinag-uusapan? Ano ang talagang nais ng gubyernong Marcos Jr? Ano ang tugon ng NDFP? At ano ang estado ng mga dayalogo sa kasalukuyan?

Panoorin ang unang bahagi ng panayam rito: PANAYAM KAY JULIE DE LIMA SISON (Unang Bahagi)

CPP on AFP’s claim of strategic victory over the NPA: ‘Dream on’

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The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) dismissed claims by Manila government security officials the New People’s Army (NPA) has already been strategically defeated, describing the declarations are nothing more than dreamland statements.

In a reaction to an online press briefing by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) last Wednesday, the CPP branded as ludicrous government claims that all but 14 “weakened guerilla fronts” of the NPA have been dismantled.

“This is pure wishful thinking on the part of the US-Marcos regime. It is a desperate attempt to fool the people and dampen their spirit of resistance,” the CPP said in a statement.

‘Zero active guerilla fronts’

In the briefing, NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres Jr. said there are “zero active guerrilla fronts” and only 14 weakened units of the NPA remain. NTF-ELCAC said six guerilla fronts had recently been dismantled.

Torres did not identify the locations of the so-called remaining fronts but said it is Manila government’s priority to dismantle them to help in local peace talks engagements.

National Security Council (NSC) assistant director general Jonathan Malaya in the same briefing alleged the NPA is at its weakest in its 55-year history with less than 1,500 fighters remaining nationwide.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in a New Year statement also boasted there are no longer active NPA fronts, reporting killing 67 leaders and 1,399 members as well as seizing 1,751 firearms throughout 2023.

The CPP however said the AFP, NSC and the NTF-ELCAC presented no proof in their self-congratulatory claims, saying in turn that majority of the guerilla fronts across 14 regional NPA commands are “far from dismantled.”

CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said the NPA’s current strength remains deep and the wide mass support it enjoys is far from what the AFP wishes to imagine.

‘Why the increased AFP budget then?’

Valbuena admitted the NPA suffered grave losses from 2019 to 2022 due to internal weaknesses and errors as well as sustained military operations by close to 100,000 AFP troops since 2017.

“Squandering hundreds of billions of pesos, the reactionary armed forces have unleashed unimaginable state terrorist violence in the countryside,” Valbuena said.

But claims of strategic victory over the NPA are belied by the Marcos government’s increased military budget by almost 40% this year, Valbuena said, citing AFP’s ₱282.7 billion budget from last year’s ₱203.4 billion.

Valbuena said that a large part of the military’s funds go to the purchase and maintenance of US-supplied jet fighters and drones used in aerial bombing, artillery shelling and full-scale military operations in the countryside.

The CPP officer also said that a vast majority of AFP battalions remain deployed against the NPA despite announcements of wanting to shift to external defense against Chinese encroachment into Philippine territories.

Valbuena further said AFP’s claims of victories in the battlefield come at the expense of farmers and indigenous peoples’ communities who suffer de facto martial rule in the guise of “community support operations.”

“The AFP hinder the free movement of people, imposing curfew and prohibiting them from working in their fields, destroying their organizations, and other forms of suppression, in order to pave the way for the aggressive entry of mining operations, expansion of plantations, ecotourism and infrastructure projects,” he said.

“Fascist troops continue to carry out a campaign of state terrorism against the peasant masses, carrying out killings of civilians and covering up their crimes by claiming their victims to be NPA fighters,” Valbuena added.

Women NPA fighters at CPP’s 55th founding anniversary celebrations last December 26. (CPP photo)

‘Masses want their Red fighters back’

The CPP said in areas temporarily abandoned by NPA units due to intense military operations, the people wait for the return of the Red guerillas.

The Party said affected NPA units are determined to recover strength, rebuild their mass bases, and continue to wage armed revolution.

It added that the NPA has in fact started regaining its bearings since last year and have carried out maneuvers to frustrate AFP’s encirclement and focused military operations.

With the CPP’s third rectification movement launched on its 55th founding anniversary last December 26, it said the NPA shall soon regain lost territories and expand to new areas.

The CPP’s Central Committee also laid down several tasks the NPA should accomplish to recover strength, including the building of company-sized units for each guerrilla front and to launch basic or annihilative tactical military offensives that have a high percentage of succeeding.

Since December, CPP newsletter Ang Bayan has published reports of NPA operations that resulted in the killing of three Philippine Army troopers in Panay Island last December 9 and 10 and a paramilitary spy in Negros Island last December 27.

“The Red commanders and fighters of the NPA, and cadres of the Party are all determined to carry forward the people’s war as long as it takes until complete victory is attained,” the CPP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Reds tell Marcos officials to quit sabotaging efforts to revive talks

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No end to armed conflict without solving root causes, CPP insists

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounced claims made by GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) security officials the November 23 Oslo Joint Statement is an agreement for the surrender of the New People’s Army (NPA) and an effective end to the 55-year civil war in the Philippines.

Reacting to statements made by National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya in an online press briefing last January 3, the CPP said the official misrepresented the joint statement to deviously undermine efforts to revive peace negotiations between the GRP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

In its own statement issued Thursday, the CPP said Malaya’s claims also seeks to prevent discussions from taking place that should tackle the socioeconomic and political issues that are the root causes of the armed conflict.

The CPP also criticized claims by other government officials that the joint statement was signed with the aim of ending the CPP-led armed struggle.

In a primer on the Oslo Joint Statement last Friday, December 29, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict quoted both Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro as saying the communiqué does not signify the resumption of the peace talks.

There is no guarantee of peace talks, both officials reportedly said.

The primer further quoted Bersamin as saying, “The peace talks are over and done…The communiqué that was mutually agreed upon communicates to the people of the Philippines, and to the world, that both parties now want to end the hostilities.”

The CPP however clarified that the GRP officials are intentionally misreading the joint statement that while it includes the phrase “ending the armed struggle,” it is accompanied and preceded by the phrase “resolving the roots of the armed conflict.”

“This entails thoroughgoing negotiations that should be undertaken with a clear agenda that comprises (a) human rights; (b) social and economic reforms; (c) political and constitutional reform; (d) disposition of forces under The GRP-NDFP Hague Declaration signed in 1992,” the CPP explained.

Both parties have already signed a Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) under The Hague Joint Declaration in 1998 by the NDFP and the Joseph Estrada GRP.

The CARHRIHL has since been reaffirmed by the NDFP and subsequent Gloria Arroyo, Benigno Aquino and Rodrigo Duterte GRP governments.

The revolutionary group added that should peace negotiations again take place with the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government, these should address the widespread problems of landlessness, poverty and hardships, political repression and tyranny, as among the issues that drive the people to take up arms against the Manila government.

“Indeed, the CPP and the NDFP consider peace talks as an additional battlefield, albeit unarmed, alongside revolutionary armed struggle, to advance the people’s national democratic cause, to assert across the negotiating table the people’s demands: for genuine land reform and national industrialization, social justice and true democracy,” the CPP statement said.

While several GRP officials have issued varying statements on the signing of the Oslo Joint Statement, mostly in disagreement with the NDFP-NPA-CPP position, President Marcos himself has yet to clarify his official position on whether to resume negotiations or to simply ask the underground Left to surrender. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

CPP launches ‘3rd Rectification Movement’ on 55th founding anniversary

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The 55-year old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) called on its members to launch a rectification movement to recover from admitted setbacks suffered in recent years.

In its traditional founding anniversary statement, the CPP said it committed “critical errors and tendencies, weaknesses and shortcomings in the ideological, political and organizational fields.”

These errors impeded the revolutionary party’s growth that also affected the further advance of the revolution it leads, it said.

“To overcome and repudiate these errors, the Central Committee calls on the entire Party to wage a rectification movement on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the Party’s basic principles as enunciated by Ka Joma (CPP founding chairperson Jose Maria Sison, who died December 16, 2022).

The underground organization (founded in December 26, 1968) said its third rectification movement is aimed at further strengthening itself primarily through the study and application of revolutionary theoretical theory and practice.

“There is widespread complacency in the study and application of revolutionary theory to serve as guide to practice, and timidity as well in drawing theory from practice,” it said.

These errors resulted in battlefield losses suffered by the New People’s Army (NPA), a slowdown in the recruitment of new members and in both rural and rural areas, and retardation of the revolutionary mass movement nationwide, it said.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT HERE: Rectify errors and strengthen the Party! Unite and lead the broad masses of the Filipino people in fighting the US-Marcos regime! Advance the people’s democratic revolution!

The CPP said problems have already been identified as early as 2016 when it held its 2nd National Congress but have persisted.

Study-led rectification

The CPP said its third rectification movement is made up of eight components:

  1. A study campaign on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the writings of communist leaders such as Sison;
  2. A full implementation of the three-level (basic, intermediate, and advanced) Party course;
  3. A study campaign on its constitution and program;
  4. A review of its first and second “Great Rectification Movements”;
  5. A summing up campaign to identify recent errors;
  6. A social investigation and class analysis campaign on all sectors;
  7. A criticism and self-criticism campaign; and
  8. Evaluation of the performances of its cadres.

The CPP’s first great rectification movement was launched when it was reestablished in 1968 after the old Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas died, while its second was launched in the early 1990s against renegade elements in various levels of its leadership.

Sources said the CPP’s earlier rectification movements were labeled “great” as it spelled the very life and death of the Party.

The underground organization’s new campaign is simply called “rectification movement.”

Strengthening

In its statement, the CPP also called on its members to continue in leading antifascist, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggles of the Filipino people against United States of America imperialism and the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. regime.

It also ordered its members to strengthen the NPA, rebuild the guerrilla army’s mass bases and help it recover from losses.

The Party ordered the strengthening of “revolutionary mass movements” in the countryside, cities and abroad as well.

On the National Democratic Front of the Philippines’ announced dialogues with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines for the possible resumption of formal peace negotiations, the CPP cautioned its members against Malacanan’s “framework of capitulation.”

“Push for the recognition of all previous agreements including the The Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” it added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Negros NPA to observe ceasefire despite continuing AFP offensives

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The New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Island announced it will abide by the two-day ceasefire order announced by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the revolutionary army’s National Operational Command.

Despite the absence of a reciprocal truce declaration from the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), the Apolinario Gatmaitan Command (AGC) of the NPA said its five guerrilla fronts in the south and north of the island will celebrate the CPP’s 55th founding anniversary with the peasant masses.

Their celebrations would center on honoring Negros Island heroes and martyrs such as Rogelio Posadas, Ericson Acosta, Juanito Magbanua (Romeo Nanta) and many others, it added.

The CPP and the NPA said Saturday their unilateral ceasefire order shall be in effect between 00:01 of December 25, Christmas Day, and 23:59 of December 26, the CPP’s anniversary.

They however cautioned the NPA to keep their celebrations secret and to remain in high alert due to possible attacks by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

On Christmas eve, the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government has yet to respond to the NPA declaration of suspension of military offensives.

Both the revolutionary Left and the Manila government traditionally reciprocate such declarations over the Christmas and New Year, the last one being in 2019.

The CPP and the GRP last declared reciprocal unilateral ceasefires at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

In a radio interview over 92.3 Radyo5 True FM last Friday, December 22, defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the GRP is unlikely to declare a holiday truce with the NPA.

“There is no movement in the exploratory talks (between the GRP and the NDFP)…AFP operations shall continue uninterrupted,” Teodoro said, referring to the parties’ announcement last November 29 that a series of dialogue happened for a possible resumption of formal peace negotiations. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

CPP-NPA declares 2-day ceasefire

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The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) declared a two-day ceasefire effective Christmas Day and its 55th Anniversary, December 25 and 26, respectively.

In an announcement on its website, the CPP Central Committee as well as the New People’s Army (NPA) National Operational Command ordered all NPA units across the Philippines to suspend offensive military operations starting 00:01 of December 25 to 23:59 of December 26.

“The two-day ceasefire aims to allow the peasant masses and NPA units in their area to conduct assemblies, meetings or gatherings to celebrate the Party’s anniversary, look back at past achievements, and pay tribute to all heroes and martyrs of the Philippine revolution,” the announcement reads.

“This ceasefire declaration is also in solidarity with people’s traditional holiday celebrations,” it adds.

The CPP and NPA last declared a suspension of military operations in March 2020 in response to the global appeal by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for an end to hostilities because of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier that month, then Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) President Rodrigo Duterte also announced his administration’s own ceasefire order in order to focus on its anti-Covid19 response.

The Ferdinand Marcos GRP has yet to respond to the new CPP-NPA ceasefire declaration.

Last month, the CPP-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the GRP simultaneously announced the signing of the November 23 Oslo Joint Statement revealing both parties have been engaged in a series of dialogue to look at the possibility of the resumption of formal peace negotiations between both parties.

In its ceasefire announcement today, the CPP and the NPA however cautioned all their units to remain alert “in the face of the relentless offensives, state terrorism and fascist crimes of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).”

“[A]ll units of the NPA are placed in high alert and must be vigilant and ready to act in self-defense to counter and frustrate hostile movement or actions of enemy units within the scope of the NPA’s guerrilla fronts and areas of operations. The NPA and the masses are advised to maintain a high level of secrecy in the conduct of their activities,” the announcement reads.

The NPA can resume its military offensive actions at 00:00 of December 27, it added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)