(Eagle News) — Communist leaders are pressing for the resumption of peace talks with the Philippine government even after the reported ambush by its armed group, the New People’s Army, against non-combatant police members in Davao.
In a statement posted in its website. CPP-NDFP panel chair Fidel Agaoili said that both the government panel had already initially agreed to hold “secret backchannel talks” for the purpose of resuming talks in April.
Agcaoili said that the CPP leadership would also still have to confirm if the ambush in Davao del Sur that killed four police officers, including Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) were done by the NPA.
“On the Bansalan incident, we still have to confirm if this was done by the NPA command in the area,” he said in the posted comment.
“There are peace spoilers around. And people should not forget that there is no ceasefire in place at the moment, and that AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the and PNP (Philippine National Police) troops have been going into villages and violating people’s rights in their combat and intelligence operations, including murderous Tokhang operations,” he said.
Nevertheless Agcaoili claimed that the communists had “kept (their) end of the bargain” on not revealing initially plans on the backchannel talks.
“Both sides agreed to hold secret backchannel talks as early as the first week of February. For some reason, these have been delayed till now,” he said in the statement dated March 9.
“In this regard, we have kept our end of the bargain not to reveal the plans or issue any statement that would upset these,” his statement read.
The scheduled fourth round of talks in April will discuss matters such as the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), and the Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms (CAPCR).
He repeated the order by the CPP to release prisoners of war (POWs) whom they are holding, but admitted there had been delays.
“The POWs should have been released as early as 2 March but arrangements on their safe and orderly release, as well as those of the third party peace facilitators, local government officials, ICRC representatives and the custodial forces, have still to be worked out,” the CPP leader said.
“Also, the NPA recently suffered casualties of four dead in a raid by the military’s 2nd Jungle Fighter Company on 7 March in San Andres, Quezon province, as well as in other places,” he said.
President Duterte on Thursday had already ordered the AFP and the PNP to go after the NPA rebels after the ambush on non-combatant policemen who were merely responding to a call for a probe in Davao Del Sur.
He said all available assets, including helicopters, jets and rockets, should be used against the NPA rebels.
Before the ambush happened, Duterte had already announced the backchannel talks.
In fact, the government allowed on Wednesday night three top communist leaders — the Tiamzon couple Benito and Wilma, along with Vicente Ladlad — to leave for Europe to meet with Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Jesus Dureza for the much-needed back-channeling that would pave the way for the resumption of the stalled peace negotiations.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also confirmed this on Wednesday. He said that these NPA leaders were allowed to leave the country hours after Dureza also flew to Europe.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) Sec. Dureza left for Europe and last night we allowed the departure of Benito and Wilma and Mr. Ladlad to also do back-channelling,” Lorenzana said in a news conference.
After the report of the NPA ambush, Malacanang said that this would affect resumption of the peace talks as the Palace already doubted that the CPP leadership has control over its men on the ground.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said, leftist leaders should be able to control their people on the ground.
“In other words that they should also cease action, that they should in fact take it upon themselves to be responsible for their own people, and also to release prisoners. So this is part of the expectations of the President regarding the matter. How it would affect? It would provide some sort of influence, however there is the bigger thing which is the pursuit of peace,” Abella said in a news conference.