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CPP dismisses Duterte’s demand for NPA surrender

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BANGKOK, Thailand–The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) dismissed President Rodrigo Duterte’s demand for the New People’s Army (NPA) to declare another ceasefire and for guerrillas to surrender and work for his government as paramilitaries.

In a statement Saturday, the CPP Information Bureau said Duterte’ demand for an NPA ceasefire as a precondition for the resumption of formal peace negotiations is unacceptable, adding the Armed Forces of the Philippines is conducting all-out war against their forces and civilians throughout the country.

“This is unacceptable. Does Duterte really take the revolutionary forces as fools?” the CPP asked.

In his speech on the 17th anniversary of Digos’ cityhood Friday, Duterte said there will be no talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) until the Reds declare a ceasefire.

“If you want to resume the peace talks, you declare ceasefire or nothing. And if you say you want another war, be my guest,” Duterte said.

Duterte cancelled the fifth round of formal peace negotiations between his government and the NDFP last May after the NDFP spurned his demand for another ceasefire “as a goodwill measure and create a favourable climate” for the negotiations.

The NDFP, however, said a ceasefire is unacceptable while Duterte is implementing a “triple war” through his so-called war on drugs called Operation Plan (Oplan) Double Barrel/Tokhang, counter-insurgency program called Oplan Kapayapaan, and martial law declaration in Mindanao.

“Duterte has lost all moral grounds to make such a demand. Recall that the NPA declared a ceasefire on August 19, 2016 which lasted for close to 160 days as a response to Duterte’s signed commitment to release around 500 political prisoners through an amnesty proclamation,” the CPP said.

“Duterte, however, wasted the goodwill of the NDFP when it failed to fulfil its commitment and took advantage of the NPA ceasefire to deploy his soldiers and conduct military offensives,” the group added.

No NPA capitulation

The CPP said NDFP-GRP negotiations will no longer be fruitful while Duterte demands NPA capitulation and surrender.

“Surrender. I will make you soldiers of this republic. Just CAFGU (Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit) for the moment,” Duterte in his speech said.

Duterte added there would be no preconditions for the surrender and promised to give them firearms and houses once they turn themselves in to a mayor or the military.

NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison scoffed at Duterte’s latest statement and said his former student has gone truly insane.

“He wants to convert surrendered NPAs into his soldiers? Duterte has truly gone insane,” Sison said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Sison said that, early on, Duterte has been proven to be a liar and untrustworthy.

“The line has been drawn to separate, fight and overthrow the US-Duterte regime. Duterte would have a hard time to act convincing again,” Sison said.

More NPA offensives

The CPP said it is the people who clamor for the NPA to mount more and more tactical offensives.

“Victories of the people’s army inspire resistance amid widespread killings and the climate of fear imposed by the Duterte regime,” the CPP in its statement said.

“The NPA launches tactical offensive to bring to account the Duterte regime and its soldiers and police for thousands upon thousands of Oplan Tokhang killings, the successive killings of peasants, national minorities and youths, military occupation of civilian communities, aerial bombings and shelling, the near-genocidal war against the Maranaos of Marawi, arbitrary arrests and detention, and so on,” it added.

The CPP also dismissed Duterte’s threat to 50 more years of civil war.

“By the looks of it, Duterte may not even last his term. He has roused the anger of the Filipino people and caused his increasing isolation. The revolutionary movement will surely outlast the US-Duterte regime,” the CPP said.

“The Filipino people and their revolutionary forces have waged close to 50 years of people’s war. They do not tire. They are determined as ever to wage revolution because they seek to end the unbearable sufferings of workers and peasants under the oppressive and exploitative system,” it added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

 

Peace advocates commemorate The Hague Joint Declaration’s 25th signing anniversary

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Peace advocates are commemorating today the 25th anniversary of the signing of The Hague Joint Declaration as the framework of the peace negotiations between the Manila government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

Lawmakers and legal luminaries, religious leaders, human rights activists and professionals in various fields as well as representatives of various sectors and the national minority groups camped out at the university are gathering at the university’s Asian Center for the event scheduled at two o’clock.

“At a time when the peace talks have been stalled or on the brink of termination, The Hague Declaration reminds us why there are peace talks in the first place,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes said in a statement

Signed in The Hague, the Netherlands on September 1, 1992, the agreement outlines the objective of peace negotiations as well as the substantive agenda that need to be negotiated to achieve “just and lasting peace.”

According to the declaration, the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP were intended to address the roots of the armed conflict by forging agreements on human rights and international humanitarian law, socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms before the end of hostilities can take place.

The Hague Joint Declaration also laid down the sequence of the negotiations, starting with an agreement on respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and the cessation of hostilities and disposition of forces of both parties.

The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law has been signed by the GRP and the NDFP last March 16, 1998, also in The Hague.

Considered to be a landmark document for peace negotiations all over the world, the declaration binds both the GRP and the NDFP to “mutually-acceptable principles, including national sovereignty, democracy and social justice, and no precondition whatsoever shall be made to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations.”

‘Document of perpetual division’

The Gloria Arroyo, Benigno Aquino and Rodrigo Duterte governments have all reaffirmed The Hague Joint Declaration among other major peace agreements when these were seeking to restart formal peace negotiations with the NDFP.

The declaration, however, had been under consistently undermined by the GRP demanding ceasefires between the New People’s Army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police before further discussions on social and political reforms as well as political and constitutional reforms may proceed.

While the NDFP consistently insisted the declaration must remain as the framework of the peace negotiations, the GRP has since adamantly demanded for ceasefires as “specific measures of goodwill and confidence-building” to “create a favourable climate” for the negotiations as stated in The Hague Joint Declaration.

Teresita Deles, peace adviser to both the Arroyo and Aquino, was reported to have said that The Hague Joint Declaration is “a document of perpetual division” while immediate past GRP panel head Alexander Padilla wanted a new track separate from the declaration.

While periodically agreeing to declaring ceasefires, the NDFP said these are just goodwill measures and are not preconditions to the holding of the talks.

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA said they had no choice but to cancel their unilateral ceasefire declaration following gross violations committed by GRP armed forces against the guerrillas and the civilian communities.

Continuing relevance

In his message, NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison said The Hague Joint Declaration and is still needed to guide the peace negotiations.

“[The declaration} give the two negotiating sides ample space to negotiate and make mutually satisfactory agreements for the benefit of the Filipino people,” Sison said.

The CPP founder said that with The Hague Joint Declaration as framework the possible outcome of the negotiations for a just and lasting peace can only consist of social, economic, political and constitutional reforms.

“The mutually satisfactory agreements can raise the level of national independence, democracy, and economic development through national industrialization and genuine land reform, social justice, expansion of social services, a patriotic, scientific and mass culture and education, national self defense and independent foreign policy,” Sison said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Agcaoili: Lorenzana set on ‘burning the house of President Duterte’

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“Militarists” in the Rodrigo Duterte government are on course to completely burning the house down, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said in reply to Department of National Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statement that social and economic reforms are “completely unacceptable.”

NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said Lorenzana confirmed “beyond doubt” being an outright peace spoiler when the secretary openly opposed land reform and national industrialization in a statement Saturday.

“This pro-American relic of the Cold War truly believes that land reform and national industrialization are communist ideas! Wow! No more talks talaga kung ganun!” Agcaoili said.

In a statement Saturday, Lorenzana denied being a peace spoiler, adding he should be viewed as a “defender of the Filipino people” instead.

“Tungkulin ko pong ipagtanggol ang sambayanan sa mga katulad ng CPP/NPA na gustong magpairal ng sistemang maka-komunista,” he said.

Lorenzana said he is against any peace process “that is clearly is stacked against the government and favorable only to the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-NDFP).”

The Defense chief added the terms of the Comprehensive Agreement for Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) are “completely unacceptable even to a casual observer.”

Lorenzana failed to identify if he was referring to the NDFP or the Government of the Republic of the Philippines version of the CASER proposals being discussed before Duterte suspended formal negotiations.

Agcaoili said Lorenzana’s all out war solution, however, is purely fascism.

“With his fascist mindset, Gen. Lorenzana believes that there is no need of reforms in Philippine society – that anyone who disturbs the peace of the exploitative and oppressive rule of the big landlords and compradors supported by their imperialist masters, deserves to be run to the ground by the military with all the arsenal under its command,” Agcaoili said.

“Gen. Lorenzana has to wake up to the real world before he completely burns down the house of President Duterte,” he added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva/Featured photo by Viory Schellekens)

Activists and Reds blame Duterte for Taguiwalo’s rejection

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The Commission on Appointments (CA) vote rejecting the appointment of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) secretary Judy Taguiwalo immediately earned condemnation from progressive groups, which blamed President Rodrigo Duterte for allowing so-called vested interests to win yet again.

Minutes after the CA rejection was read at the Senate, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said vested interest won over good governance, pro-people polices and genuine service.

“This one is on Duterte as it is on the CA…The President could have asked his allies in Congress to confirm Judy yet he again chose to ‘bend the knee’ to pork barrel lawmakers, neoliberal economic managers and the militarists in his cabinet,” Reyes said.

“The rejection exposes the utter bankruptcy of the current ruling system and the reactionary character of the Duterte regime. He chose business-as-usual, reactionary politics over genuine change,” Reyes said in his Facebook post.

In a secret vote, at least 13 CA members comprising majority of the commission voted against Taguiwalo’s confirmation.

Pork barrel in the DSWD

Taguiwalo’s troubles with both houses of Congress began when she issued her Memorandum Circular 9 on August 6, 2016 clarifying that DSWD assistance to the poor shall no longer require “guarantee letters” from representatives and senators.

Lawmakers grilled Taguiwalo during the two 2017 DSWD budget hearings of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives last year, accusing her of trying to prevent them from helping the poor in their respective districts and sectors through DSWD services.

Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin claimed that congressmen were the first people that their constituents seek help from and that MC9 implied their guarantee letters were in violation of the Supreme Court ruling against pork barrel.

Negros Oriental Representative Arnulfo Teves challenged Taguiwalo whether it was the DSWD or the lawmakers who know the poor’s plight better, while House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Farinas threatened to drastically reduce DSWD’s proposed budget.

“We are not asking money from you. You are asking money from Congress. No budget can be spent on your programs without the (Congress) granting it,” Fariñas told Taguiwalo.

During her confirmation hearings, Taguiwalo was also repeatedly questioned about her past as a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and joining the New People’s Army to fight the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship.

Taguiwalo said she will always be proud of her decision to go underground during Marcos’ martial rule.

Duterte’s militarist swing

But National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said CA’s rejection of Taguiwalo is actually part of Duterte’s increasing attack against the Left.

Expressing dismay over the negative vote, Sison said patriotic and progressive forces can expect more ultra-reactionary actions from the Duterte government.

Taguiwalo, along with Agrarian Reform secretary Rafael Mariano and National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convenor Liza Masa are NDFP nominees to the Duterte Cabinet.

“The rejection of the appointment of Judy Taguiwalo is one more sign that the Duterte regime is becoming more and more reactionary and servile to anti-national and anti-democratic interests,” Sison told Kodao in an online interview.

Sison said the development is in line with the increasingly militaristic track being implemented by Duterte, something both legal progressives and the underground revolutionary groups must prepare to fight.

“The revolutionary forces and people must deal with the fact that Duterte has junked the peace negotiations and is carrying out a single-minded policy of war, death and destruction. They must fight resolutely and fiercely against a brutal and fascist Marcos-type regime that scandalously operates like a Mafia syndicate of corrupt bureaucrats, drug lords and gangsters,” Sison warned.

Duterte’s former professor said attacks against progressives are in line with the all-out war policy which the President has carried out since the beginning of his administration under the counter-insurgency policies Oplan Bayanihan and Oplan Kapayapaan.

“All patriotic and progressive forces have to develop a broad united front against the puppet and reactionary US-Duterte regime,” Sison urged. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

STREETWISE by Carol Pagaduan Araullo: No love lost between Duterte and the Left

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One need not be such a keen observer of Philippine politics to note the quite dramatic deterioration in the relationship between the Left and President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, self-styled “Leftist” and “socialist” president of the Philippines.

At the beginning, a de facto tactical alliance existed between the two. It was premised on Duterte’s promise that he would bring about a real change in government. For the Left, foremost was the release of all political prisoners, peace talks to arrive at fundamental socioeconomic and political reforms, and an independent foreign policy to reverse decades of US neocolonial domination.

A year later, Duterte has reneged on his promise to amnesty all political prisoners and has practically, if not formally, scuttled the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. He is brandishing what he thinks is a more formidable “all-out war” against the CPP-NPA-NDFP topped by a martial law declaration in Mindanao, targeting what the AFP claims to be the movement’s strongest base of operations.

For the Left, Duterte has emerged as a full-blown reactionary president, a fascist defender of the exploitative and oppressive status quo, while still trying to deceive the people with token, populist measures and an image of being tough against corruption and criminality.

The signal fire, in retrospect, was when Duterte collapsed the 5th round of GRP-NDFP peace talks saying that he would not pursue negotiations unless the CPP-NPA-NDFP entered into an indefinite bilateral cease-fire. Echoing the hawkish line of his security officials, Duterte said talks can not go anywhere if the NPA continues to launch attacks against the AFP and engages in “criminal extortion” or what the CPP-NPA calls “revolutionary taxation.”

But what supposedly got Duterte’s ire was the directive of the CPP leadership to the NPA to intensify its tactical offensives against the military and police upon the declaration of martial law in Mindanao. Glossed over is the fact that no cease-fire was in effect at that time because the Duterte government failed to declare a unilateral cease-fire before the 4th round of talks even though the two sides had earlier agreed upon a simultaneous declaration of unilateral cease-fires.

The preconditioning of the peace talks to an open-ended cease-fire before any bilateral agreement on socioeconomic reforms had been reached not only violates previous agreements that the Duterte government affirmed when it revived talks with the NDFP, bottom line is that the GRP wants the revolutionary movement to agree to its voluntary pacification in exchange for nothing. In effect, to surrender on the negotiating table as a prelude to surrendering in the battle field without achieving any meaningful reforms through a supposedly negotiated political settlement.

It appears that the NDFP Negotiating Panel tried its best to salvage the situation by proposing ways of easing pressure on the Duterte government with the onset of the Marawi crisis.

Unfortunately, Duterte quickly swung rightward. He allowed the militarist troika of Lorenzana-Año-Esperon to lead the way, not only in dealing with the ISIS-inspired Maute rebellion in Lanao province by aerial and artillery bombardment leading to the destruction of Marawi City, but in pursuing the government’s counterinsurgency program against the CPP-NPA-NDFP, this time utilizing the vast powers of martial law in all of Mindanao to tamp down any opposition.

Flush with the imprimatur given by the Supreme Court to the imposition of martial law in Mindanao, Duterte railroaded its extension until yearend via a pliant Congress. Independent reporting on the continuing devastation of Marawi City and its after effects is virtually impossible with the military controlling all sources of information. Heightened human rights violations in other parts of Mindanao have been swept under the rug.

The direct involvement of the US Armed Forces in the military campaign against the Maute Group has been welcomed and justified by Duterte despite his posture that he is against US intervention in the country’s internal affairs. (Apparently he was only referring to US criticism of his bloody anti-illegal drugs campaign).

His anti-US tirades have softened of late and been replaced with friendly meetings with the US ambassador and US Secretary of State; echoing the US line against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; and reports of an agreement to allow armed US drones to strike at ISIS and other “terrorist” targets.

Clearly the ISIS “threat” is being overblown as an excuse to prolong martial law and possibly even expand it outside Mindanao. It is also providing the rational for expanding US military presence in the country and steadily growing US military involvement in armed conflicts labelled as “terrorist”.

Duterte’s attempt to appear conciliatory when he addressed the Left-led SONA protest failed to mollify the protesters who persistently chanted their calls for genuine reforms, an end to martial law, and the continuation of peace talks. Duterte was forced to end his pretense at openness and departed in a huff.

Duterte’s speeches have become consistently virulent against not just the revolutionary Left but also political and social activists who are leading the fight for reforms. He threatened to bomb lumad schools that he said were NPA schools. He said he would not hesitate to use violence against militant urban poor if they again tried to occupy abandoned public housing. He rained invectives on activists and said he would not heed their demands even if they resorted to nonstop protest in the streets.

In response, activists are stepping up their opposition to what they now call the “US-Duterte fascist regime.”

What is interesting is that Duterte has not fired three Leftist Cabinet members despite the downward spiral of relations with the Left. For one he has no basis to kick them out except that they are identified with the Left. For another, they are no threat to him; in fact, one might say they are objectively helping to deodorize his regime by just doing their jobs competently and consistent with their pro-people stand.

Neither have the three tendered their resignations to the wonderment of those who tend to think the Left one-track minded and monolithic. Perhaps this is all that remains of what once was a promising alliance between Duterte and the Left. A tenuous bridge for communications before all hell breaks loose.

(This article first appeared in an opinion column of the same title on BusinessWorld. http://bworldonline.com/no-love-lost-between-duterte-and-the-left/

Carol Pagaduan-Araullo is a medical doctor by training, social activist by choice, columnist by accident, happy partner to a liberated spouse and proud mother of two.)

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Herbert Bautista willing to help NDFP consultants

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Quezon City Mayor Herbert M. Bautista is willing to take cognizance of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultants who may be rearrested after a government official threatened to have their bail bonds cancelled.

In a statement released through the Quezon City Public Information Office, Bautista said he is willing to help in any way possible to advance the peace process, including acting as guarantor for the continued freedom of Leftist peace negotiators.

Bautista is GRP peace adviser on local government units and is a member of the government panel’s reciprocal working committee on social and economic reforms.

“If we would be asked and such assistance would be allowed by the courts, we don’t see why not,” Bautista said.

Solicitor General Jose Calida last July 20 threatened to initiate petitions to have courts cancel the bail bonds of at least 18 Leftist negotiators freed last August 2016 after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the suspension of formal talks.

Church leaders, civil society groups and political leaders in the past have taken cognizance of NDFP consultants and other political detainees for humanitarian reasons or to allow them to participate in peace negotiations with the government.

“I personally hope that our NDFP counterparts shall not be ordered rearrested because I wish that formal negotiations will soon resume,” Bautista’s statement said.

“But should it come to that (bail bond cancellation), I will assist in whatever way I can because achieving peace is everyone’s responsibility,” he added.

The NDFP for its part praised Bautista’s statement, saying it shows the local executive is supportive of the continuation of the formal peace negotiations.

“If true, it is nice.  It is good that someone is standing up for the continuation of the talks,” NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Fidel Agcaoili told Kodao Productions.

“What he said is praiseworthy,” NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison for his part said.

Earlier, NDFP Legal Adviser Edre Olalia said Calida’s threat to have majority of NDFP Peace Consultants rearrested is premature, adding there is no written formal notice of termination yet of the formal peace process.

“It is premature and precipitate. There is yet no written formal notice of termination properly addressed to the NDFP as mandatorily required by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which is a solemn bilateral agreement that protects negotiators, consultants, staffers, security and other personnel of both Parties involved in the peace negotiations,” Olalia said.

Duterte’s threats to serve notice to the NDFP of the termination of formal peace talks did not push through last week, giving hope it will be revived in the future.

“I hope sobriety shall prevail in order to save the peace process and go back to the reasons why it must be pursued despite periodic challenges along the way,” Olalia said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDFP lawyer slams GRP Solgen’s threat to re-arrest peace consultants

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NDFP legal counsel Atty. Edre Olalia during the third round of formal talks in Rome, January 2017 (Photo: Kodao/Jon Bustamante)

A lawyer for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panel said moves to cancel bail bonds of the peace consultants violates the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

In a legal opinion, Atty. Edre Olalia said Solicitor General Jose Calida’s move to have NDFP 18 peace consultants rearrested is premature, adding there is no written formal notice of termination yet of the formal peace process.

“It is premature and precipitate. There is yet no written formal notice of termination properly addressed to the NDFP as mandatorily required by the JASIG which is a solemn bilateral agreement that protects negotiators, consultants, staffers, security and other personnel of both Parties involved in the peace negotiations,” Olalia said.

Olalia’s opinion was a reaction to Calida’s July 20 announcement his office will file a motion in court seeking to “cancel all bail bonds of NDFP consultants, order their arrest, and recommit them to their detention facilities.”
“They can now be arrested and recommitted to their respective detention facilities,” Calida added.

Olalia said there is no clear indication up to date that the Department of Justice — the principal and lead arm of the GRP prosecuting the assailed cases against the NDFP consultants — is moving for such cancellation of the bail bonds much less joining or concurring in the OSG unilateral move.

“Moving for the re-arrest of peace consultants by invoking GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) legal and judicial system is a circumvention and even violation of a solemn binding bilateral agreement (JASIG) entered into by the GRP,” Olalia said.

The lawyer added such move shall tie the hands and pre-empts the flexibility of President Rodrigo Duterte in negotiating with the NDFP.

Olalia said it is Duterte’s prerogative to eventually and ultimately resume talks or peace negotiations, notwithstanding his previous threat to formally terminate the talks.

The lawyer hopes sobriety shall prevail, “in order to save the peace process and go back to the reasons why it must be pursued despite periodic challenges along the way.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Joma to Digong: You do not dictate on me

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Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison rebuffed President Rodrigo Duterte’s challenge for him to go home and continue his fight in the country.

“I do not have to prove again that I have the revolutionary will and courage to wage armed struggle against oppression,” Sison said, adding he surpasses the field record of many officers in the “reactionary military.”

Duterte continued his verbal attacks against Sison telling his former professor, “If you are truly a revolutionary leader…come home and fight here.”

“Your people here, your NPA (New People’s Army) members, have been dying, losing their husbands. (They) have not even seen Sison. (Their) leader is a coward. Is there a leader who just rest(s) in Utrecht?” Duterte said in a media interview after visiting the wake of the six police officers killed in an ambush in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.

Sison retorted he was an active part of the people’s war against the Marcos regime for nine years, 1969 to 1977 and then went to fascist prison for another nine years.

Sison is said to be among those who suffered the worst kinds of torture by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) under the Marcos dictatorship.

“I surpass the field record of many reactionary military officers who are in the field for a few years until they are assigned desk jobs and then retire at the age of 56,” Sison said.

Sison, also the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), said he will return to the Philippines to “fight the Duterte puppet regime of US imperialism” if deemed necessary by the revolutionary movement.

“That means surmounting my being in the same old age bracket as Duterte and evading the constant surveillance by the US, Dutch, European and Philippine reactionary intelligence agencies,” Sison said.

“At any rate, I must remind Duterte that we are well past the age of retirement in the NPA and AFP,” he added.

“At his ripe old age of 72, he should not try to project an image of being a strutting young fighter at my expense,” Sison further said.

The CPP founder said he chooses the battlefield where he fights and the types of battles the wages, adding these cannot be dictated by Duterte.

“The way he continues to talk he really hates to engage in peace negotiations with the NDFP. He should sober up and allow his negotiating panel to seriously negotiate with the NDFP negotiating panel and make agreements on social, economic and political reforms that lay the basis of a just and lasting peace for the benefit of the Filipino people,” Sison said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva/Photo by Jon Bustamante)

NDFP says GRP eagerly wanting to end talks

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National Democratic Front of the Philippines chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili accused the Rodrigo Duterte government of wanting to end the peace negotiations after Malacañan cancelled the scheduled backchannel talks in Europe this weekend.

“The GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) seems so eager to terminate the peace negotiations even using the flimsiest of all excuses to cancel the backchannel talks,” Agcaoili said in a statement.

Agcaoili was reacting to Malacañan’s announcement yesterday cancelling the informal talks to resume formal peace negotiations citing as reason three separate incidents in North Cotatabo, Palawan and Surigao del Sur Wednesday reportedly involving the New People’s Army (NPA).

Sources told Kodao NDFP peace negotiators were about to fly to Oslo, Norway when informed of the cancellation.

“The situation on the ground necessary to provide the desired enabling environment for the conduct of peace negotiations are still not present up to his time,” Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said yesterday.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella for his part said the order to cancel the backchannel talks came directly from Duterte.

Agcaoili, however, reminded the GRP there is no ceasefire in place and clashes between the NPA and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are expected.

“The NDFP did not cancel the talks despite the killing of six NPA fighters and two civilians in Campostela Valley last 12 July and the massacre of a family in the same province a few days later,” Agcaoili said.

Agcaoili also accused the GRP of blatantly violating the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) when Solicitor General Jose Calida said Thursday he would ask for the cancellation of bail bonds and seek the arrest of NDFP consultants released last year for the peace talks.

“OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) will ask the courts to cancel all bail bonds of NDF Consultants, order their arrests, and recommit them to their detention facilities,” Calida said in his Twitter account.

“If the GRP is so determined to terminate the negotiations, it can avail of the pertinent provision in the JASIG to do so, and not engage in subterfuge and threats in an attempt to force the NDFP to capitulate to its demands,” Agcaoili retorted.

Agcaoili said the NDFP will not sign a ceasefire agreement with the GRP ahead of substantive agreements on social and economic as well as constitutional and political reforms.

“There cannot be any ceasefire without agreements on reforms! This is a matter of fact and of principle,” Agcaoili said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Activists score Malacañang’s cancellation of backchannel talks with Reds

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The peace talks must continue even under conditions of intense fighting between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said in response to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines’ (GRP) cancellation of its scheduled backchannel talks with the the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. in a statement said the clashes between the NPA and the AFP today are additional reasons the peace talks must be held to find a way to stop the fighting.

“Insisting that the fighting stop before even the talks can proceed goes against the very nature of the talks. It puts the cart before the horse, so to speak,” Reyes said.

Reyes was reacting to Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza’s cancellation today of the scheduled backchannel talks between the GRP and the NDFP following an encounter between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Arakan, North Cotabato this morning.

“I am announcing the cancellation of backchannel talks with the CPP/NPA/NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front) originally set within the next few days in Europe due to recent developments involving attacks done by the NPAs,” Dureza in his Facebook said.

“The situation on the ground necessary to provide the desired enabling environment for the conduct of peace negotiations are still not present up to his time,” he added.

Aside from the Arakan clash where a paramilitary trooper was reportedly killed and three members of the Presidential Security Group were injured, two Marines were also reported killed by the NPA in the northern Palawan town of Roxas Wednesday morning.

Dureza announced early Wednesday morning that President Rodrigo Duterte instructed his peace negotiators led by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III last night to meet with the NDFP soon for the resumption of formal peace negotiations.

NDFP peace consultant Allan Jazmines, for his part, also told Kodao yesterday that NDFP and GRP negotiators are set to meet in Europe next week.

What about AFP attacks?

Reyes blamed the AFP and President Rodrigo Duterte’s Martial Law declaration in Mindanao for the increasing number of armed encounters in the regions.

“The AFP, under Martial Law, has carried military campaigns against communities not even related to the conflict in Marawi. There have (been) attacks on schools, displacement of civilians, extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests and other (human rights) violations,” Reyes said.

He added that the AFP has not stopped its all-out war against the NPA, accusing the AFP of not reciprocating the latest temporary cessation of armed offensives in Mindanao offered by the NDF last June 19 at the height of the Marawi crisis.

“More than the NPA attacks, it is martial law which has created the most negative effect on the talks. The President says that (martial law) is not intended against the NPA. However, the AFP has from the onset, used (martial law) against the NPA,” Reyes said.

“How could there be no fighting if such was the case? How can martial law not be a factor in the peace talks?” Reyes asked.

Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay also blamed Duterte’s martial law for the absence of the so-called conducive atmosphere for the continuation of formal peace negotiations.

“The imposition of martial law certainly worsened the climate for meaningful and substantive discussions in the peace process,” Palabay said.

Palabay said martial law in Mindanao is worsened by AFP’s all-out war policy throughout the country though the aerial bombing of communities in Luzon and Mindanao affecting thousands of civilians.

“With the backchannel talks cancelled by the GRP, and with the extension and even possible expansion of the scope of martial law hovering like a Damocles sword, the Filipino people, including the people of Mindanao, will face further unpeace,” she said.

Reyes said the Filipino people demand the peace talks to continue because of the urgent need to address the roots of the armed conflict through fundamental socio-economic reforms.

“What is at stake here is the prospect of a just peace. This is bigger than the ceasefire issue which we know to be always unstable if there are no basic reforms. The best way to secure peace is to move forward with the substantive (social and economic reforms) agenda,” he said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva/Featured image from Reyes’ Facebook post)