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Khan: NTF-ELCAC harmful to peace talks efforts

United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan said the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration’s decision to open peace talks with the revolutionary Left is a positive signal but urged however for the abolition of the government’s anti-insurgency task force.

Among her recommendations in her exit press briefing last Thursday, February 2, Khan said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) should be abolished “to allow for more inclusive peace-building platforms.”

“The tone of the new Administration, coupled with its decision to open peace talks with insurgents and a renewed engagement with the international community, are positive signals,” Khan said.

“But addressing the serious and deep-seated human rights issues will require more fundamental and sustained reforms,” she added.

Khan said the NTF-ELCAC is “outdated” and stressed that “does not take into account the ongoing prospects for peace negotiations.”

The government, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Royal Norwegian Government simultaneously announced ongoing discussions for the possible resumption of formal peace negotiations.

Immediate rejection

Khan’s recommendation was however immediately rejected by Marcos administration officials, even accusing the UN expert of blindsiding the government with her preformed opinions before arriving in the Philippines.

National security adviser Eduardo Año, Peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., National Security Council assistant director Jonathan Malaya and media security task force head Paulino Gutierrez in unison rejected Khan’s recommendation of Khan to abolish the NTF-ELCAC.

“Please take note that this is a 55-year old running insurgency. Now that we have reached this stage in the campaign, we feel it is improper to call for its abolition,” Malaya said, again claiming the government is about to defeat the New People’s Army (NPA).

Año for his part said the NTF-ELCAC “does not encourage red-tagging.”

Sen. Imee Marcos also mocked Khan’s call to abolish the task force as “supremely presumptuous,” belittling the length of time the UN expert spent in her in-country investigations.

“After a mere 10 days in the Philippines, during which she never visited the NTF barangays but only met a chosen few witnesses, she has the knowledge and the right to tell the Philippine government what to do?” Marcos said in a statement.

Ignorant response

Rights group Karapatan however labeled the Senator as ignorant, saying she should be schooled on international human rights mechanisms like the UN and the International Criminal Court.

“They cannot just sign human rights treaties, conventions and go to town saying that we have a ‘vibrant’ democracy, without being held accountable for the Philippine government’s obligations and commitments in this global rights system,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

Palabay pointed out that it was the government that invited Khan into the Philippines and her recommendations must be respected as part of the government’s obligations to the international community.

“What they fail to see is that it is simply game over for the NTF-ELCAC, despite all the lights and sounds show, parties and meetings they put up during SR Khan’s official visit,” Palabay said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Duterte admits threatening to kill Joma, joins Sara in opposing talks resumption with NDFP

Former president Rodrigo Duterte admitted he threatened to kill the late National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison that contributed to the 2017 termination of the peace process between his government and the revolutionary Left.

In a radio interview with his former chief legal adviser Salvador Panelo over DZRJ 810 AM last Wednesday, December 20, Duterte said he cursed at Sison in a phone conversation who returned the favor.

“[W]e ended up…nagmurahan kami. Pinu-t****** ko siya, sumagot din siya ng put****** mo…Sabi ko, huwag ka umuwi sa Pilipinas, papatayin kita!” Duterte narrated. (We exchanged expletives. I told him he was a son-of-a_b****. He responded in kind. I then told him, ‘Do not go home to the Philippines, I will kill you.)

Duterte did not give details on when his conversation with the Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairperson–his one time political science professor–happened.

Duterte said his call with Sison started politely, both greeting each other and their respective families with pleasantries. But their exchange turned for the worse when they started arguing about the definition of terms in the peace proposals submitted by the NDFP.

He said the particular phone call was probably listened in to by the military.

“That was the saga of the peace talks during my time. So it was terminated. Sabi ko, no peace talks anymore. Ever,” Duterte said.

The former president terminated formal negotiations with the NDFP in June 2017 when both parties were set to sign a prospective Interim Peace Agreement that included social and economic reforms and a long-term ceasefire.

In May 2017, Duterte ordered his negotiators, led by then labor secretary Silvestre Bello III, to cancel the fifth round of formal talks when both parties were already in The Netherlands for the continuation of what could have been the most successful episode in the nearly three decade history of the GRP-NDFP negotiations.

Wednesday’s rant was the longest that Duterte has addressed the peace talks issue since the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government has announced an ongoing dialogue for the possible resumption of the negotiations.

Duterte admitted that his termination of the peace negotiations with the NDFP “was only good for my (his) term.”

“[But] A new president has initiated another,” he said, adding he wishes there would no longer be negotiations with the NDFP.

Father joins daughter in opposing talks

Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio also expressed her opposition to the resumption of the negotiations, calling the November 23 Joint Statement between the GRP and the NDFP a “deal with the devil” in her first-ever public rebuke of Marcos Jr.

Leaders of both the House of Representatives and the Senate have however expressed support for the initiative, lending support to speculations of a widening rift between the Dutertes and the Marcoses.

Aside from the peace talks with the NDFP, both political dynasties are seen to differ on the use of confidential-intelligence funds and the government’s stance on the West Philippine/South China Sea issue.

The Dutertes are known to be close to China while Marcos is seen to be close to the United States of America that are inching towards a possible military confrontation in the region.

The Marcos government is also seen as open to the Philippines rejoining the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal court where the Dutertes are facing investigations for alleged crimes against humanity in relation to the former president’s bloody drug war that has reportedly killed thousands in a span of just over two years. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDFP: Teodoro’s insinuation of surrender by Reds ‘simply untrue’   

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) belied claims made by defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro it was the Left that sought a dialogue with the Government of the Republic of Philippines (GRP) for a possible resumption of formal negotiations.

The NDFP also said insinuations that it is now willing to surrender is “simply untrue.”

“It was the GRP who first approached the NDFP and not the other way around,” the revolutionary alliance said in a statement published on their website.

“Teodoro sings out of tune compared to what his colleagues in the GRP delegation is saying as well as what was agreed by both Parties in the joint statement signed last November 23,” it added.

In a television interview last Friday, Teodoro said there are no formal negotiations yet with the NDFP, adding that as he understood it, “[T]here was a request by the NDF to a (GRP) negotiator that they were willing to give up the armed struggle.”

“[W]e have to see first what the conditions are for talks to continue,” Teodoro said.

The defense secretary who earlier said he is against the resumption of formal peace negotiations with the NDFP added that counter-insurgency activities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict against the Left will continue.

The NDFP however said Teodoro’s claims and insinuations are “head-scratching” and “out of tune” with the spirit of the November 23 Oslo Joint Statement issued by both parties and witnessed by representatives of the Royal Norwegian Government.

“We ask the GRP to focus their efforts instead on the substantive agenda items of the negotiations. Before proceeding to any conversation about the cessation of hostilities, we urge the GRP to go back to the negotiating table and discuss first the remaining substantive agenda items under the Hague Joint Declaration,” the NDFP said in its rebuttal.

This means discussing the draft Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms which primarily addresses the root causes of civil war, the group added.

“The NDFP reiterates that the point of entering peace negotiations is not to arrive at capitulation, but to create a space conducive to discuss mutually acceptable and principled ways of achieving just and lasting peace,” it said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

No talk of surrender in the peace negotiations, NDFP says

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said it will never consider any talk about its surrender and those of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) should peace negotiations with the Ferdinand Marcos government push through.

In a statement, NDFP Executive Council member and senior adviser to the NDFP Negotiating Panel Luis Jalandoni said, “[T]here is and should absolutely be no talk or insinuation, much less demand, about the surrender of the NDFP or of the revolutionary struggle of the CPP, NPA and NDFP.”

Jalandoni explained that their group has always negotiated with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) under various administrations to genuinely resolve the real reasons for the armed conflict.

“The peace negotiations are not negotiations for capitulation but rather a unique opportunity to find mutually acceptable and principled ways of addressing the root causes of the civil war,” he said.

This means, among others, the land problem that impacts on more than 70% of the entire Philippine population, namely the farmers, he explained.

“Their struggle for land must be addressed,” the former NDFP chief negotiator said.

Jalandoni added that their agreement to enter anew into the peace process with the GRP is based on the premises and context of their November 23 Joint Statement.

“Morover, we in the NDFP have firmly asserted from the start that we must build on the basic bilateral agreements, namely, The Hague Joint Declaration of September 1, 1992, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) which remain binding between the Parties,” he explained.

Earlier, presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. said the prospective peace talks between the NDFP and the Marcos GRP would not be a resumption but a “new beginning.” 

The former general added that the absence of “preconditions” will give the parties “greater flexibility to engage in meaningful, honest discussions, and by doing so, allow the peace process to move forward at a more definite and faster pace.”

Jalandoni however said various issues and concerns from both sides remain outstanding and are yet to be negotiated across the table.

“We in the NDFP are ever committed to enter into peace negotiations with the GRP in a determined quest for a just and lasting peace that will be of lasting benefit to the Filipino people,” he said.

All but Sara

Meanwhile, top leaders of both houses of Congress said they support President Marcos’ decision to negotiate with the NDFP.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri told reporters last Wednesday he approves of the resumption of the peace talks.

“Any political move that will end any conflict within the Philippines, I’m in favor of, because those are long lasting solutions,” he said.

Earlier, House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said the peace negotiations are not mere political maneuvers but a responsibility of both parties in pursuit of peace.

Unlike Zubiri and Romualdez however, Vice President Sara Duterte has openly rebuked Marcos Jr.’s decision to negotiate with the NDFP, the first such instance since the country’s top four leaders ran and won under the UniTeam slogan in the 2022 national elections. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

VP Sara rebukes BBM’s peace plan, fuels speculation of rift with Marcos

Vice President Sara Duterte publicly disagreed with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the possible resumption of formal negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), in turn earning criticisms and disagreements from members of both houses of Congress.

In probably her first public rebuke of her political ally, Duterte told Marcos to review plans to revive negotiations with Communist revolutionaries, calling the November 23 Joint Statement between Manila government emissaries and the NDFP “an agreement with the devil.”

“Mr. President, we can negotiate for peace and reconciliation and pursue meaningful development efforts in the Philippines without capitulating to the enemies,” Duterte said.

“They will use these peace negotiations to betray government and deceive the public,” she added.

Duterte earned swift condemnation from House of Representatives (HOR) Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers’ Party Representative France Castro who said the vice president’s statement is anti-peace and advocating for war as well as intolerant of different beliefs.

“The remarks made by Vice President Sara Duterte are detrimental to the pursuit of genuine peace negotiations. By posturing as if she is the president of the country and questioning the first steps to a peace negotiation between the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the (NDFP), she is undermining the efforts to address the roots of the armed conflict in the Philippines,” Castro said.

Castro said it is alarming that the vice president’s statements reflect a lack of understanding of the complexities of the peace process and a disregard for the aspirations for just and lasting peace.

“Instead of promoting war, we call on the Vice President and those she represents to support efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the armed conflict in the country,” Castro added.

Breaking up?

Allies of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez at the HOR likewise commended “initiatives for peace and national unity,” by the Marcos government, contradicting the vice president’s statements.

In a statement, the so-called Political Party Leaders in the HOR described the development as an “historic move” in the country’s journey towards lasting peace and sustainable development.

At the Senate, Sen. JV Ejercito urged Duterte to talk directly to the President regarding her opinion about the planned resumption of peace negotiations to prevent further speculations of a rift between the allies.

“Better if [Duterte] talked to [Marcos] directly to quash speculations that, politically, they are headed to go in their separate ways,” Ejercito told ABS-CBN Monday night.

Duterte earlier criticized erstwhile allies in Congress who voted to reject her request of at least P125 million pesos in confidential and intelligence funds for her office and the Department of Education that she also heads.

She also downplayed the exodus of members of her political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago to Romualdez’s  Laban-CMD.

Duterte and Romualdez are seen to be rivals in the 2028 presidential race.

Romualdez is a cousin of Marcos.

Sought for comment, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III also welcomed Marcos’ intention to talk peace again with the NDFP.

“Between Filipinos, we should always be open to dialogue,” Pimentel added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)