President Duterte yesterday announced that he is cancelling the ongoing peace talks with the local communist group following the withdrawal of the unilateral ceasefire of both parties.

The President said he is not ready to resume the ceasefire with the rebels after they brutally killed three soldiers in an ambush in Mindanao last Wednesday.

Duterte said the government has already done enough, from spending money for the peace talks to releasing some political prisoners. However, he said, the rebels just keep on squeezing him dry.

“We started with 18 and we came up with 23 leaders and now it’s 400. Eh, kung ganun mag-surrender na lang kami,” he said in an interview while visiting his mother’s grave at the Davao Public and Roman Catholic Cemetery, late Saturday night.

“I would not honor any agreement that would violate the Constitution. I never promised to release all political prisoners. You don’t release them because they committed a crime,” he added.

Duterte added that he released the leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) so they can go to Oslo, Norway, for the peace talks.

He said those who were released by the government should return to the country in their own volition and go back to prison and those released to participate in the talks should return to the country and submit themselves to the jurisdiction of the government.

“Walang pardon, walang amnesty, wala lahat. Ngayon 400, eh, di kung 400 lahat na lang. Ano pang pag-usapan natin? (No pardon, no amnesty, nothing. Now they want us to release 400 political prisoners. If that is the case, we should just release all. There is nothing more to talk about),” he said.

“I’m alerting all from the intelligence community to keep track of where they are now,” he added.

Duterte also said that he is now ordering all members of the government peace panel to “fold up their tents and come home.”

He said that the peace talks will remain cancelled unless there is a compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation.

“If I feel that there is a joke somewhere, I will not waste my time,” he said.

Duterte added that he will not wait for the rebels to officially withdraw their ceasefire on February 10 as unarmed soldiers were already killed.

“Wala nang time frame. Sabi nila yung kanila February 10? Ako hindi na. Namamatay na mga sundalo ko, maghihintay pa ako ng February 10 (No more time frame. They said February 10? My soldiers are already dying, will I wait for February 10)?” he added.

The CPP-NPA-NDF announced last Wednesday that they will withdraw their ceasefire on February 10. Duterte lifted the government’s unilateral ceasefire two days later.

Yesterday, government peace panel chair Silvestre Bello III said President Duterte did the right thing by lifting the ceasefire and making the Reds know that their ambush on the soldiers was wrong.

Bello also said the government peace panel has not yet talked with the communist leaders since they announced the withdrawal of their own ceasefire.

Temporary setback

Reps. Alfred Vargas (LP, Quezon City), Carlos Isagani Zarate (Bayan Muna Partylist), and Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers Partylist) expressed confidence the recent events adverse to the peace process are mere temporary setback.

“I hope that this is a temporary setback in the ongoing peace talks and that both sides will still find solutions to attain longer peace,” said Vargas.

Zarate allayed fears that the withdrawal of ceasefire declarations will douse hopes for a peaceful solution to the half-a-century armed conflict.

“We call on the negotiating panels of both parties, as well as their respective working groups and committees, to focus in the crafting of an agreement on socio-economic reforms – the crux and the most crucial part of the peace process,” said Zarate, vice chairman of the House Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity.

“The absence of a ceasefire should not be taken as signal the agents of the state for a renewed violation of human rights,” he stated.

Zarate urged peace negotiators to proceed with their February 22 scheduled meeting in Utrecht, Netherlands, adding that primary of the agenda is the release of political detainees, particularly the sickly and the elderly.

Tinio sees the withdrawal declarations as mere formality, claiming that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had actually violated its own declaration to temporarily halt attacks on suspected communist party members and insurgents.

“On the ground, the AFP did not cease from conducting counterinsurgency ops even while the unilateral ceasefire was in effect,” he said.

No need for reserves

Meanwhile, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año said there is no need to call in the military reserves yet despite the termination of the ceasefire.

“We have enough forces. We will assess everything before we make any troop movement or any adjustment,” he said when asked whether there is a need for more forces after President Duterte ordered the lifting of the government ceasefire.

Año noted that he has been in contact with all military commanders in Eastern Mindanao and that all of them are now aware of what they need to do.

“They know already what to do because when we (had) our command conference early last month, (part of the) contingency planning is what the military would do in case peace negotiations fail or should the NPA decide to withdraw their ceasefire,” he said.

Año placed the number of NPA combatants in the entire country at 3,700, half of whom are operating in Eastern Mindanao.

He said this is the reason the AFP is focusing on community development programs in the countryside, especially those with Indigenous Peoples, so that the rebels would be denied additional recruits. (With reports from Ben R. Rosario and PNA)

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos

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