Duterte lifts ceasefire with Reds, but peace talks proceed next month

President Duterte has lifted the government ceasefire with the communist rebels after the ultimatum he had set for the Maoist group to reciprocate the truce lapsed without action at 5 p.m. yesterday.

“Let me now announce that I am hereby ordering for the immediate lifting of the unilateral ceasefire that I ordered last July 25 against the communist rebels,” the President said in a statement released by Malacañang last night.

“Correspondingly, I am ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to also withdraw the operational guidelines they issued in pursuance to that ceasefire declaration,” the statement read.

Duterte further directed all security forces “to be on high alert and continue to discharge their normal functions and mandate to neutralize all threats to national security, protect the citizenry, enforce the laws and maintain peace in the land.”

During his visit of troops in Asuncion, Davao del Norte last Friday, the President gave the rebel leadership up to 5 p.m. of July 30 to reciprocate and explain why there was an infraction of the unilateral ceasefire which he declared last Monday.

Duterte gave the ultimatum following the rebel attack in Davao del Norte that left one government militiaman dead and four others wounded on Tuesday.

“If I do not hear a word from you then I will lift the order of ceasefire,” he warned the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

The President also deplored the condition imposed by the rebel group to withdraw government troops and police forces in rebel-infested areas. “Tell me that I will order the Army and the police out of the mountain, that is out of the question. I said that from the start,” he said.

PEACE TALKS PROCEED

Despite the lifting of the unilateral ceasefire, Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza said the resumption of peace talks between the government and the CPP-NPA-NDF will proceed as planned next month.

Formal negotiations between the two parties had already been set to begin in August in Oslo, Norway.

“Who is saying it is not pushing through? We have scheduled it August 20 up to August 27. So we are pushing through with this as originally scheduled,” Dureza said in an interview over state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Speaking hours before the 5 p.m. deadline for the rebel group to declare a truce, Dureza stressed that “it will not in any way affect the peace talks” should the President lift the unilateral ceasefire that he declared during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“Alam naman natin even when we agreed to resume peace negotiations we have tabled as an agenda item the discussion on the interim ceasefire. At the time we did not even consider that unilateral ceasefire will be called by the President in the SONA,” said Dureza.

“So it is not a factor at all in the planned negotiations,” he said further. “As a matter of fact dun natin ma-fine tune ang ating ceasefire arrangement dahil when you come up with a bilateral negotiated ceasefire, the mechanisms of the other collateral arrangements will be discussed across the table during that time,” he added.

ELITE FORCES PULLED OUT

Hours before the ultimatum lapsed, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) pulled out its elite soldiers in a known communist rebel-infested area in Eastern Mindanao.

The move was part of the unilateral ceasefire still in effect at that time.

Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, chief military information officer, said the elite 2nd Special Forces Battalion were already ordered to withdraw from San Miguel town in Surigao del Sur where it is based.

The withdrawal of the Special Forces, along with a company of Scout Rangers and other infantry units recently, is the military’s compliance with the directive of the President to step back from the combat operation areas of the military.

“The move is to ensure that there will be armed engagements between government security forces and members of the NPA,” said Arevalo.

Arevalo said the withdrawal of their troops is a proof of the military’s commitment to the peace process which is being aggressively pushed by their Commander-in-Chief.

“The AFP firmly believes in the primacy of peace as the road to sustainable development and enduring prosperity for our countrymen,” said Arevalo.

 ”The AFP will not renege on its commitment to the Command in Chief (Duterte) that it will be a willing instrument of security and stability,” he added.

SABOTAGE?

Meanwhile, Dureza dismissed claims by the left that the military is on the move to sabotage the peace process.

“I have not found any indication at all that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is sabotaging the peace talks,” Dureza said, adding that the military has issued statements fully supporting the President in his declarations in the government’s effort to assume peace negotiations, including the call for a unilateral ceasefire.

NO COALITION GOV’T

Meanwhile, Duterte reiterated that he would never agree to a coalition government with communist rebels.

The President gave this assurance during a visit this week to government troops at Camp Guillermo Nakar in Lucena City.

“Tingnan natin (Let’s wait and see). Let’s give them (communist rebels) a chance. I would like to assure everybody here in this room that I will never, never agree to a coalition government,” the President told top military officials during a briefing.

“I am very emphatic that I can have an inclusive government. I have taken them in. I can shake hands and talk about peace, an inclusive government,” Duterte said.

AFP DENIES IT DREW ‘FIRST BLOOD’

In Davao City, the 10th Infantry Division denied the accusation of the NPA that the military had deceived Duterte regarding the facts of the encounter in Davao del Norte.

In a statement, 10th ID Spokesman Rhyan Batchar said the division “strongly takes offense on the malicious and unfounded allegations of the NPA spokesperson that the AFP deceived the President on the ambush of CAAs in Davao del Norte on July 27.”

NPA Comval North Davao South Agusan subregional command Spokesman Aris Francisco said paramilitary forces and the AFP have been engaging the NPA in Kapalong, Davao del Norte.

Francisco claimed it was the AFP that first ignored the ceasefire.

The unit reportedly moved from their detachment on July 26 towards NPA targets located some 20 kilometers away.

The SCAAs, Francisco said, were the ones who were setting up the ambush.

“Had the Red fighters not taken the initiative to actively defend itself by intercepting the 72nd Infantry Battalion Alamara troops, the operating AFP troops would have carried out its own combat action and inflicted damage against the NPA unit,” Francisco said.

Batchar, meanwhile, said that the AFP never claimed that the unit that was ambushed was doing a civilian activity.

“In the 10ID’s Facebook page and press release, we said that the CAAs, who were already several days out of their camp on security patrol when the ceasefire was declared, were on their way back to their patrol base in compliance to the President’s declaration of ceasefire when ambushed by elements of the NPA,” Batchar said.

“The NPA’s allegation is completely false as the ambush site is two to three days walk from the CAA patrol base in Sitio Patil, Barangay Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte and the ambush happened at about 6:45 in the morning of July 27,” Batchar said. (With a report from Aaron B. Recuenco)

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Elena L. Aben & Yas D. Ocampo

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