The
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel may
recommend for a unilateral ceasefire declaration in response to the United
Nation’s (UN) appeal for a global truce during the corona virus disease
(Covid-19) pandemic, Jose Maria Sison said.
Sison
said he is advising the NDFP peace panel to recommend to its principal, the
NDFP National Council, the issuance of a unilateral ceasefire declaration by
the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to the New People’s Army (NPA) in
response to UN secretary general Antonio Guterres’ call for a global ceasefire.
“The NDFP and the broad masses of the people
themselves need to refrain from launching tactical offensives to gain more time
and opportunity to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and to look after the health and
over-all welfare of the people in both urban and rural areas,” Sison said.
“The world must know that long before the belated
quarantine declarations and repressive measures of the GRP (Government of the
Republic of the Philippines), the NDFP and the revolutionary forces have been
informing, training and mobilizing the people on how to fight the pandemic,” he
added.
Guterres called for
an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world last Monday,
March 23, saying it is time for humankind to put
armed conflict on lockdown and focus together “on the true fight of our lives.”
Guterres asked the warring parties to pull back from
hostilities, silence the guns, stop the artillery and end the airstrikes. “This
is crucial to help create corridors for life-saving aid, open windows for
diplomacy and bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to #COVID19,” he said.
Sison said the UN’s appeal is what the revolutionary forces in the
Philippines may respond to, instead of the “bogus
unilateral ceasefire declaration of the GRP.”
He warned that reciprocating President Rodrigo
Duterte’s ceasefire order may appear as “directly condoning and becoming complicit
in the criminal culpabilities of the Duterte regime for allowing the Covid-19
to spread nationwide since January, for making no preparations against the
pandemic and for making lockdowns on communities and yet failing to provide
mass testing and treatment of the sick, food assistance and compensation for
those prevented from work.”
The GRP declared a unilateral ceasefire against
the CPP, the NPA, and the NDFP effective 00:00 hour of March 19 to 24:00 hours
of April 15, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo announced Wednesday
evening, March 18.
Sison
further advised that while the NPA can cease and desist from launching tactical
offensives, it must be vigilant and be ready to act in self-defense against any
tactical offensive launched by GRP military, police and paramilitary forces against
its own guerrilla fronts.
He added that the GRP has persisted in launching
tactical offensives and bombing of communities in the countryside as well as
campaigns of red tagging, abductions and murder in the urban areas against
civilians, justifying NDFP’s desistance from reciprocating Duterte’s ceasefire
offer.
NDFP Negotiating Panel chairperson Fidel Agcaoili
told Kodao that they shall submit their recommendation to their National
Council soon. # (Raymund Villanueva)
https://i0.wp.com/kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/guteres.jpg?fit=1123%2C603&ssl=16031123Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-03-24 08:21:002020-03-24 08:21:01NDFP may respond to UN appeal for ceasefire, Joma advises
GENEVA, Switzerland—A victim of the
Baguio City raid last Friday, March 13, turned out to be a top leader of the
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), statements by the underground
revolutionary movement in the Philippines revealed.
In a statement, the CPP said Julius Giron, one of the victims in the early morning raid, was one of the stalwarts of the Party’s Central Committee, its Political Bureau and Executive Committee member who served the party’s central organs over the past three decades.
The underground group said Giron played
a key role in reconstituting the Party’s leadership in 2014 when alleged CPP
chairperson Benito Tiamzon and secretary general Wilma Tiamzon were arrested in
Cebu province.
It said Giron brought together
more than a hundred Party cadres to hold the Party’s Second Congress in 2016
when he was elected to the CPP’s Central Committee, its Political Bureau and as
one of the key officers of its Executive Committee.
The government announced Giron’s
killing, along with one Lourdes Tan Torres/Ma.
Lourdes Dineros Tangco and an unnamed aide in a joint military and
police operation at about 3:30 AM in Barangay Queen of Peace in Baguio City last
Friday.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed Giron and companions “resisted arrest, prompting authorities to retaliate in a search warrant operation.”
The CPP however said there was no fire fight and the raiding party fired at the victims at close range in an execution-style killing.
“Claims made by
the military and police that they were about to serve an arrest warrant are
outright lies. It was a liquidation operation, a massacre, carried out at 3
a.m. with the clear aim of assassinating Giron and eliminating all witnesses,”
the CPP said.
“The entire Party
and all revolutionary forces are enraged over the murder of Ka Nars,” the group
added.
Stellar revolutionary career
The CPP said Giron was among the young cadres who pioneered revolutionary work in the Cordilleras and other Northern Luzon regions in the 1970s.
The group said Giron helped forged Igorot unity, and in rousing, organizing and mobilizing the national minority groups in resisting national oppression, defense of their ancestral land, and in their fight for autonomy.
Giron was in the Cordilleras
during the people’s epic struggle against the Chico River Dam Project, the CPP
revealed.
CPP founding chairperson Jose Maria
Sison gave Giron high praises in a statement Tuesday, March 17, revealing the
victim, like him, received religious tutelage from his mother and served as a
sacristan to the Catholic priests in his grade school days.
Sison said Giron was a bright and
sociable person in high school with plenty of friends.
“He was charismatic because he was
intelligent and had a talent for singing and dancing. He also excelled at
numbers and hoped to become an engineer. He enrolled in the course of
Engineering in the University of the Philippines in Baguio but was able to
finish only the first two years because of his heavy responsibilities as a
leading activist,” Sison wrote.
He added that Giron joined the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) in 1970 and was a product of the First Quarter Storm (FQS) of 1970. Giron led the KM in Baguio City during the FQS.
“He often delighted and inspired
the mass protests by reciting Amado Hernandez’s ‘Kung Tuyo Na ang Luha Mo,
Aking Bayan’ to the music of ‘Ang Gabing Mapanglaw’. He helped build the
Samahan ng mga Anak Pawis (SaAnPa) in Baguio City in 1970. He became an
outstanding activist of the national democratic movement as he engaged in
organizing workers in the transport, energy, and mining sectors,” Sison
recalled.
Sison added that Giron became a member of the CPP in 1971 and assumed major responsibilities, serving with its Trade Union Bureau, participating in the organization of the CPP’s Northern Luzon Regional Party group, being designated a staff member of the Instructor’s Bureau of the CPP under the Education Department, and serving as team leader of an armed propaganda unit in Ifugao province.
Giron then went to Isabela province to instruct Political Officers of the New People’s Army (NPA) for regional and national deployment.
Giron during CPP’S Second National Congress in an undisclosed location in 2016. (CPP photo)
“As Founding Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines
and Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines, I honor Comrade Julius Soriano Giron with the Red salute and
express the highest respect and commendation for his martyrdom and for his long
record as a communist leader and revolutionary fighter in the Filipino people’s
struggle for national liberation and democracy,” Sison said.
He also condoled with his late comrade’s family and to all of Giron’s comrades, relatives and friends.
“I share with them profound grief
over his demise and at the same the pride and joy for his lifelong and fruitful
service to the people in their noble cause and struggle for national and social
liberation from foreign monopoly capitalism, feudalism and bureaucrat
capitalism,” Sison said.
“Comrade Julius served the people in the best way that he could
and in the most exemplary way, died as a martyr and will therefore live forever
in the hearts and minds of the people and in the continuance of the people’s
democratic revolution with a socialist perspective. His murder in the hands of
the armed minions of the traitorous, tyrannical, genocidal, corrupt and
mendacious [Rodrigo] Duterte regime outrages the people and incites them to
intensify their revolutionary struggle,” Sison said.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
Peace Negotiating Panel, its consultants, personnel and staff also extended condolences
to the comrades, family, relatives and friends of Giron and his two companions.
“While in detention during the years of the Marcos dictatorship, we came
to know of Comrade Julius’ artistry. He was a good painter and
headed the painting group inside prison. Indeed, his deep love for the
Cordillera people is reflected in his paintings and poetry which are on display
in his wake,” NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said.
“We render the highest salute to Comrade Julius for his selfless
commitment and lifelong dedication to the revolutionary movement of the people
for national freedom, democracy, social justice and genuine peace,” Agcaoili
said.
Peace consultant
Agcaoili revealed that Giron was one of NDFP’s senior consultants in the
GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines)-NDFP peace talks on social,
economic and political reforms, as well as end of hostilities and disposition
of forces and was in fact designated as National Consultant Number 1.
“He was holder of Document of Identification (DI) number 978410 under
the name of Arnold Cruz as National Consultant 1, which entitled him to
protection and immunity under the JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity
Guarantees),” Agcaoili said.
“The martyrdom of Comrade Julius and his companions inspires us even more
to firmly pursue the Filipino people’s struggle for national and social
liberation and for genuine and lasting peace,” he added.
The CPP said it will exact justice on Giron’s killers.
“Giron was, in fact, murdered in cold blood. The perpetrators and masterminds of the assassination of the Girons are criminals. The Party and revolutionary movement will make sure that they will pay for their crime,” it said.
Giron was convalescing in Baguio due to illnesses brought about by his advanced age, the CPP said. He was 70 years old. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://i1.wp.com/kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/julius-giron.jpg?fit=959%2C640&ssl=1640959Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-03-19 17:14:232020-03-19 20:09:11CPP reveals Baguio raid victim was top leader, vows justice
GENEVA, Switzerland—There is no clear basis for the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to rush into reciprocating the
government’s unilateral declaration of ceasefire, its chief political
consultant Jose Maria Sison said.
In a statement, Sison said that while there is ongoing
communication between the NDFP and Government of the Republic of the
Philippines (GRP) negotiating panels, there is yet no agreement for reciprocal
unilateral ceasefires in regard to efforts in containing the corona virus
disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
In asking for certain “considerations, requirements and
modalities” for the NDFP to think about reciprocating GRP’s unilateral
ceasefire announcement, Sison said there has to be clarifications.
He added that without such understanding, the ceasefire
announcement by Malacañang Palace is “premature, if not insincere and false.”
President Duterte has decided to declare a unilateral
ceasefire against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s
Army (NPA), and the NDFP effective 00:00 hour of March 19 to 24:00 hours of
April 15, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo announced Wednesday evening
in Manila.
According to Panelo, the President directed the Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), including
the national defense as well as the interior and local government departments,
to cease and desist from carrying out operations against the revolutionary
forces.
Duterte last Monday publicly asked the underground communist
groups for a ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic, promising to repay them “with
a good heart in the coming days” if they agree.
Sison however said the NDFP is not assured and satisfied
that the ceasefire announcement is based on national unity against Covid-19,
the appropriate solution of the pandemic as a medical problem and the
protection of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, including workers,
health workers, those with any serious ailments and the political prisoners.
“Unless it receives sufficient assurances from the GRP, the
NDFP will be inclined to think that the GRP unilateral ceasefire declaration is
not sincere and is not intended to invite reciprocation by the NDFP but is
meant to be a mere psywar (psychological warfare) trick,” Sison warned.
Sison pointed out that according to the people and their own
forces in the Philippines, Duterte’s lack of sincerity in seeking a real
ceasefire is manifested by the following”
The militarist lockdown on the whole of Luzon is
mean not to fight the Covid-19 pandemic but to intimidate the people, suppress
democratic rights, commit human rights violations and prevent the working
people from going to their workplaces, and immobilize even the health workers
and people who wish to be tested and treated for Covid-19 and other serious
ailments; and
The AFP and the PNP continue to redtag, abduct
and murder social activists, including human rights defenders, in urban areas
and to unleash attacks against the people in the guerrilla fronts of the NPA.
The NDFP and the CPP earlier condemned the killing of senior
cadre Julius Giron, his physician Lourdes
Tan Torres and their aide last March 13 in Baguio City. Human rights activists
also blamed the military for the abduction and killing of choreographer and
activist Marlon Maldos last Tuesday, March 17, in De la
Paz, Cortes in Bohol province.
Sison said that despite all the
above, the NDFP continues to hope that Duterte orders the GRP negotiating panel
come to clear terms with its counterpart “for the benefit of the people.”
“Promises of Duterte, such as doing
a good turn from a good heart, can be believed only as they are realized
promptly and according to a definite schedule,” he said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://i0.wp.com/kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/consultants.jpg?fit=1030%2C549&ssl=15491030Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-03-19 03:00:002020-03-19 03:00:01NDFP says no need to rush into reciprocating Duterte’s unilateral ceasefire announcement
A journalist and four other human rights defenders were arrested in Tacloban City early Friday morning, February 7, raising cries of condemnation from media and human rights organizations.
Eastern Vista reporter and Aksyon Radyo – Tacloban DYVL 819 kHz broadcaster Frenchie Mae Cumpio was arrested at the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) staff house in Barangay Calanipawan in Tacloban City along with RMP staff Mariell Domanquill.
Guns were planted in their rooms, human rights group Karapatan said.
The RMP is the mission partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.
Cumpio acts as Eastern Vista executive director, Altermidya correspondent in Tacloban City and an active member of the Philippine chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television.
She co-hosts the long-running weekly DYVL radio show Lingganay Han Kamotuoran produced by the Promotion of Church People’s Response in Eastern Visayas.
Simultaneous with the raid on the RMP house, the police led by a certain Lt. Col. Pedere raided the Katungod Sinirangang Bisayas office where Karapatan National Council member for Eastern Visayas Alexander Philip Abinguna, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) -Tacloban’s Mira Legion and People’s Surge spokesperson Marissa Calbajao were arrested.
The Katungod
office in Fatima Village, Bañezville, Brgy. 77, Tacloban City is shared with
Bayan and peasant organization Sagupa.
Calbajao’s one-year old baby was also taken to the police station. Her organization, People’s Surge, is a Leyte and Samar-based organization advocating for genuine rehabilitation for Supertyphoon Yolanda victims.
The five are being charged with illegal possession of firearms and are detained at the Palo Philippine National Police (PNP) office, Altermidya said.
Media groups up in arms
“We condemn the Leyte police and
state forces for this latest attack on Eastern Vista, our fellow community
journalist Cumpio, and against people’s groups in Leyte. We demand their
immediate and safe release, and call on the public to denounce this latest
attempt to silence and intimidate independent media and human rights
defenders,” Altermidya said in its alert.
The National Union of Journalists
of the Philippines (NUJP) also condemned the police for its arrest of Cumpio
and demanded her immediate release.
“We offer our full support to
Cumpio and our colleagues in Eastern Vista and Lingganay han Kamatuoran and
call on the community of independent Filipino journalists to close ranks with
us,” the NUJP said in a statement.
Before her arrest, Cumpio had been
the subject of continued harassment and intimidation by men and at least one
woman believed to be state security agents who had been tailing her around
since September last year.
In the most recent incident on
January 31, an unidentified man described by witnesses as tall and sporting a
military-style haircut, visited the Eastern Vista office bearing a flower
bouquet and showing a photo of Cumpio as he asked residents for her
whereabouts.
On December 13, Cumpio reported
that motorcycle-riding men she believed with military were tailing her around
Tacloban City.
The arrest of Cumpio is
reminiscent of that of Anne Krueger of the Negros-based alternative media
outfit Paghimud-os, who was among the more than 50 persons arrested in
simultaneous raids by the military and police on the offices of legal organizations
long accused by the government of being “fronts” of the communist rebel
movement, the NUJP said.
Krueger had been temporarily
released after posting bail on similar illegal possession of firearms,
ammunition, and explosives.
Cumpio’s arrest is clearly part of
government’s crackdown against not only these supposed communist fronts but all
critical media, the NUJP said.
Since last year, the government
has no longer bothered to hide the fact that the critical media have been
included in their list of “enemies of the state,” the NUJP added.
“The arrests of Cumpio and, before
her, Krueger, the red-tagging of the NUJP and other press freedom groups and
advocates, the continued attempts to shut down Rappler, ABS-CBN and the
Philippine Daily Inquirer, are all part of this government’s efforts to silence
the free exchange of ideas and co-opt media into mouthing only what it allows,”
the NUJP said.
“Let us thwart this government’s attempts to muzzle freedom of the
press and expression, without which democracy cannot survive. Let us send out
the message that we are free not because anyone allows us to be but because we
insist on being free,” the media group added.
Gestapo-like raids
Karapatan said
the raids, conducted between 1:00am to 2:30am, were “Gestapo-like” as the
activists were sleeping when the police forcibly entered the Katungod-Bayan-Sagupa
offices.
“They were
brought out of their rooms and minutes after, at least two guns, 1 machine gun
and materials for an improvised explosive device were planted in the rooms,”
Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said in a statement.
As in the case
with the RMP staff house raid, the warrants were only shown to those arrested
after they were accosted, Palabay added.
“Today’s
arrests and raids should enrage should who stand for civil liberties and human
rights, social justice and lasting peace in the country. We are calling on all
advocates and communities to defend the rights of defenders against these
attacks by the Duterte administration,” Palabay said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://i2.wp.com/kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/french.jpg?fit=660%2C371&ssl=1371660Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-02-07 09:23:152020-02-07 10:48:20Journalist, human rights defenders arrested in Tacloban early morning raids
Labor
federation Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) condemned the creation
of police offices in Central Luzon industrial zones, saying the move violates the
Constitutionally-guaranteed right to form and join organizations.
The
KMU blasted Philippine National Police (PNP) in Region III and the Rodrigo
Duterte government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict
(NTF-ELCAC) as the agencies announced the creation of the Joint Industrial
Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO) to prevent militant labor groups from
organizing unions in the region.
“The
creation of the JIPCO is a direct attack on workers’ basic right to form unions
–our legitimate means to collectively fight for our basic interests and welfare
as workers. The JIPCO is meant to stifle not the so-called ‘radical labor
infiltration’ but the workers’ very right to exercise self-organization and
union work,” KMU Chairperson Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog said.
PNP Central Luzon director Police General Rhodel
Sermonia last Wednesday, January 22, led JIPCO’s launch at the Clark Freeport
Zone in Zambales Province “to act as the first line of defense from radical
labor infiltration of the labor force and the industrial zones in support of
ELCAC (End Local Communist Armed Conflict).”
With Sermonia as guests of honor and speakers were
presidential adviser on the peace process Secretary Carlito Galvez, newly
installed Philippine National Police (PNP) Direcor General Archie Francisco
Gamboa, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director Charito
Plaza.
The
KMU however said there can be no peace anywhere in the Philippines if the PNP, known
for criminal and deadly practices such as “ninja cops” and “Oplan Tokhang”, are
tasked to prevent unionism in factories and workplaces.
The
group also noted that both the PNP and Philippine Army have repeatedly accused
militant labor unions of being supporters of the underground communist movement
in the Philippines. The creation of a JIPCO is precisely aimed to prevent
organizing of unions which will affect the entire labor sector, it added.
“The
[NTF-ELCAC] has been weaponized to the extent of violating fundamental rights
of workers to form unions, which are clearly provided in the Bill of Rights of
the Philippine Constitution, as well as International Conventions. The JIPCO in
effect bans the existence of any union and all unions in Central Luzon,” said
KMU’s Labog.
The
militant labor group charged that the JIPCO is a project of the National Task
Force- End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which was created
through Executive Order No. 70.
“That
the JIPCO is a mechanism to defend industrial zones from radical labor in
support of the ELCAC is all rhetoric for crushing legitimate people’s
organizations carrying legitimate demands, such as unions calling for higher
wages, regular work and implementation of labor standards, especially in
Economic Zones which are not regulated by the Labor Department,” Labog said.
The
labor leader also added that “only the few big capitalists stand to benefit
from the eradication of unions in the economic zones.”
The KMU Chairman asked workers and the people to
launch actions and engage all institutions to stop JIPCO even as it looks for possible
legal actions against the PNP and PEZA. # (Raymund
B. Villanueva)
https://i2.wp.com/kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/opapp.png?fit=700%2C528&ssl=1528700Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-01-24 16:36:162020-01-24 16:36:17KMU: Police in industrial zones violate labor rights
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) accused high-ranking government and military officials of opposing efforts to revive peace negotiations and launching actions that violated the recently concluded ceasefire agreement between the Communist Party of the Philippines and the Manila government.
NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison named Duterte’s national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon, national defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana, interior and local government secretary Eduardo Año, presidential adviser on the peace process chairperson Carlito Galvez and new Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Felimon Santos of opposing efforts to revive the peace process.
“Either Duterte has been pretending to be for peace negotiations all along or he fails as commander-in-chief to put in line his military subordinates for the resumption of the peace negotiations,” Sison said.
Sison said Duterte’s five subordinates made the following declarations to disobey the President’s public declarations on his desire to resume peace negotiations with the NDFP:
1. They can destroy the CPP and NPA before the end of the Duterte regime despite the failure of all previous regimes to destroy the people’s revolutionary movement and the repeated failure of the current Duterte regime to comply with its deadlines for destroying said movement.
2. They oppose peace negotiations in a neutral venue abroad but favor negotiations for the surrender of the CPP, the NPA and entire revolutionary movement in a Philippine venue under the control and manipulation of the regime and its armed minions.
3. They can stage fake localized peace talks despite the glaring fact that all organs of the CPP and commands of the NPA at all levels have publicly rejected and condemned such fakery.
4. They are happy with and enjoy the escalating conditions of oppression and exploitation under the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system of big compradors, landlords and corrupt bureaucrats who are servile to the imperialist powers, their banks and monopoly firms.
5. They shun social, economic and political reforms to realize full independence, democracy, social justice and all-round development and they are most vehemently against genuine land reform and national industrialization.
“[T]he Filipino people should not be surprised if the GRP-NDFP will not be resumed in the twilight years of the Duterte regime,” Sison said.
Sison said that even before the end of the reciprocal unilateral ceasefire agreement last January 7, Duterte’s military and police subordinates “have been calling for war and blood and have been making offensive deployments against the Filipino people and revolutionary forces throughout the archipelago.”
The NDFP in Negros island, one of three rebel strongholds Duterte ordered to be flooded with military forces last year, reported “unabated military operations” during the two-week holiday truce.
Military movements
In a statement Wednesday, January 8, a day after the ceasefire agreement concluded, Ka Bayani Obrero, NDF-Negros spokesperson, said they received the following reports of AFP combat operations throughout the island from the Apolinario Gatmaitan Command of the New People’s Army (AGC-NPA):
1. December 24, 2019 – 1 military truck full of 62nd Infantry Battalion (IB) troops descended on Brgy. Mansablay, Isabela, Negros Occidental;
2. December 27, 2019 – 21 soldiers of the 62nd IB descended on Sitio Kuyawyaw, Brgy. Inolingan, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental;
3. December 27, 2019 – 21 soldiers of the 62nd IB descended on Sitios Oway-oway and Binataan, Brgy. Quinten Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental;
4. December 27, 2019 – 30 soldiers of the 62nd IB descended on Sitio Tibobong, Brgy. Quinten Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental;
5. December 28, 2019 – 33 soldiers of the 62nd IB descended on Sitio Tiyos, Brgy. Quinten Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental;
6. December 30, 2019 – Undetermined number of 62nd IB soldiers descended on Sitio Saisi, Brgy. Tan-awan, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental;
7. December 31, 2019 – 62nd IB soldiers also descended on Sitio Bayi, Sitio Cande-is and Sitio Ulitaw, Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental;
8. December 31, 2019 – 20 soldiers of the 79th IB led by a certain Maj. Tupaz descended on Sitio Tanquinto and Hacienda Amparo, Brgy. Mabini, Escalante City, Negros Occidental;
9. January 1-3, 2020 – 62nd IB soldiers descended on Sitio Pisok, Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental;
10. January 3, 2020 – 14 soldiers of the 79th IB descended on Sitio Brodjen, Brgy. Malasibog, Escalante City, Negros Occidental, and;
11. January 6, 2020 – 40 soldiers of the 79th IB descended on Brgy. Paitan, Escalante City, Negros Occidental.
The NDF-Negros also reported troop movements and operations by the 11th IB under the 302nd Brigade and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Brgy. Talalac in Sta. Catalina and other municipalities in the Third Congressional District of Negros Oriental.
“[These] manifest the dubious sincerity of the Duterte regime regarding peace talks resumptions,” Obrero said.
Obrero said the AFP and the PNP implemented combat operations in peasant communities in the mountainous areas “to persistently spread terror, threats, and harm on the Negrosanons.”
“This simply shows that Duterte has no control over his bloodthirsty and warmongering dogs in the military and police,” AGC-NPA spokesperson Ka Juanito Magbanua said.
Magbanua said all NPA guerrilla fronts in Negros successfully celebrated the CPP’s 51st founding anniversary last December 26. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
On the last day of the reciprocal unilateral ceasefire agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines, supporters of the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) held a protest rally at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to urge for the rejection of peace spoilers.
The protesters said the government must reject militarist calls by defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana, national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon, interior secretary Eduardo Año and others who have openly declared their opposition to ongoing efforts to revive the peace talks.
They also called for the release of NDFP peace consultants and other political prisoners as a boost to confidence-building measures for the resumption of peace negotiations. (Video by Jek Alcaraz/Kodao)
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The reciprocal unilateral ceasefire agreement between the government and the communist rebels ended without further incident at midnight last night, but Jose Maria Sison thinks there is no reason to extend the truce at this point.
Sison, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant, expressed disappointment that despite the ceasefire’s success, the Rodrigo Duterte government did not release a single political prisoner in the last two weeks to further bolster chances of resuming formal peace negotiations between the parties.
“There is no reason for the NDFP to recommend to the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) the extension of the ceasefire, especially because GRP did not release a single political prisoner who is sickly, elderly or NDFP consultant in the entire period of the ceasefire agreement,” Sison told Kodao in an online interview.
Sison said the holiday truce between the CPP and the government had been successful nationwide “despite some two incidents of self-defense by the New People’s Army (NPA) before the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) submitted its SOMO (Suspension of Military Operations) and SOPO (Suspension of Police Operations) to the NDFP belatedly on December 26.”
Sison was referring to the separate ambuscades undertaken by the NPA in Camarines Norte and Iloilo provinces that killed one police officer and injured several others on the morning of December 23 on the day the ceasefire agreement was supposed to take effect.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted its troops were on combat operations on both occasions but claimed they were in the process of pulling out when waylaid by the communist guerrillas.
On the other hand, government soldiers belonging to the 401st Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army “swarmed” a village in Bacuag, Surigao del Sur last December 30, causing the NPA to cancel its celebration of the CPP’s 51st founding anniversary and mass wedding of its members.
Sison said the troop movement was offensive, provocative to the NPA, disturbing to the community and was, therefore, a violation of the ceasefire.
Despite the general success of the nearly two-week truce, however, Sison revealed there is no further agreement between the two parties to extend the ceasefire agreement.
“Instead, what the NDFP is getting from the GRP side are the warmongering statements of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and PNP officials announcing offensives and insisting on fake localized peace talks staged by AFP military officers for racketeering,” Sison said.
Sison was referring to the 9th Infantry Division-Philippine Army’s claim that 306 alleged NPA members surrendered last December 26 on the occasion of the CPP’s 51st founding anniversary that immediately backfired when netizens pointed out that photographs released by the Philippine Army purportedly showing the surrenderers were faked.
The AFP later admitted to the fakery.
Sources in the backchannel talks between government representatives and the NDFP said labor secretary Silvestre Bello III is expected in The Netherlands in the third week of the month for another “informal talk” aimed as preparatory to a formal meeting for the resumption of formal peace negotiations. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
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The ongoing ceasefire between the government and the communist rebels had largely been successful, paving the way for more meetings between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiators, Jose Maria Sison acknowledged.
“By and large, the two parties have complied with the ceasefire agreement and allowed it to serve as goodwill and confidence-building measure for enhancing the environment for the resumption of the GRP-NDFP negotiations,” Sison said in a statement two days before the end of the reciprocal unilateral ceasefires on Tuesday, January 7.
Sison added that since December 26, when the GRP had provided the NDFP with copies of suspension of military and police operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, there had been no reported firefights between combatants of both parties.
The NDFP earlier explained that the firefights in Camarines Norte and Iloilo on the morning of December 23 when the holiday truce was scheduled to start happened before the GRP issued its own orders to effectively start the ceasefires.
The PNP on both occasions admitted that they were on combat patrol when waylaid by NPA guerrillas but said they were in the process of pulling out of their operations.
But Sison claimed that 401st Infantry Brigade-Philippine Army’s troop movement that disrupted a Communist Party of the Philippines event in Bacuag, Surigao del Sur last December 30 was offensive in nature and a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
The communist leader, however, seeks to downplay the incidents, saying there had been “no incident in which one side fired at the other side” since December 26.
“The few allegations of ceasefire violations have not disrupted the nationwide implementation of the reciprocal unilateral ceasefire agreement. Such allegations can be threshed out by the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels and the Joint Monitoring Committee under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” Sison explained.
In an earlier online interview with Kodao, Sison said that a successful ceasefire may be extended while meetings to set up a formal round of NDFP-GRP negotiations this month are underway.
“That can be considered by the NDFP negotiating panel if its GRP counterpart proposes,” he said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
The Philippine government has finally transmitted its ceasefire orders to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel the group said paves the way for the unilateral and reciprocal ceasefires to “proceed effectively.”
In an announcement, NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said they received copies of Suspension of Offensive Military Operations (SOMO) and Suspension of Offensive Police Operations (SOPO) from the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) at 8:54 a.m. Thursday, December 26, at their office in The Netherlands. (3:54 p.m., Philippine time.)
“We hope that from hereon the unilateral and reciprocal ceasefires declared by the two Parties shall proceed effectively,” Agcaoili said.
Agcaoili said former GRP chief negotiator Silvestre Bello III sent the documents.
The NDFP chief negotiator said the SOMO, dated December 24, was issued by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Noel Clement while the SOPO, dated December 22, was issued by Philippine National Police (PNP) officer in charge Archie Gamboa.
Both documents comply with a memorandum issued by Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Eduardo Año, Agcaoili added.
Last December 22, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo announced that GRP President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the AFP, PNP, DILG and the Department of National Defense to issue the government’s truce orders.
On the same day, the Communist Party of the Philippines has issued its truce order, a day ahead of the scheduled start of the ceasefire agreement last December 23, Monday.
Earlier, questions were raised whether government military and police forces would abide by their commander in chief’s directive as combat operations were reported to have been conducted as late as December 23.
Ninth Infantry Division-Philippine Army public affairs chief Major Ricky Aguilar told reporters Monday that a platoon of government soldiers on combat patrol was ambushed by New People’s Army (NPA) fighters in Labo, Camarines Norte.
A government trooper was killed while six others were injured by an improvised explosive device as the soldiers were pulling out from Barangay Paat at about 9:20 a.m., Aguilar said.
Also last Monday, PNP’s Gamboa accused the NPA of staging an ambush against the Iloilo Mobile Force Company that injured two police officers in Tubugan town, Iloilo Province.
NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said that both incidents were not violations of the ceasefire agreement as the GRP has yet to issue its truce orders at the time.
The ceasefire would be in effect only after both parties have issued their respective truce orders, the December 21 NDFP-GRP Joint Statement signed in Utrecht, The Netherlands reads.
As to GRP’s transmittal of its truce orders, Sison said there is no more problem about continuing the CPP ceasefire order to the NPA.
“The best thing to do is cool down and proceed with the reciprocal ceasefires and let them generate goodwill and confidence in preparation for the resumption of the peace negotiations,” Sison added.
The holiday truce shall be in effect until January 7. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
