Gov't panel nixes holiday truce--NDFP
By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 10:15:00 12/03/2008
Filed Under: Politics, Armed conflict
LUCENA CITY -- The government peace panel has ignored a 12-day ceasefire being offered by the communist insurgents on "humanitarian grounds" and to pave the way for the safe release of "prisoners of war," according to an official of the Utrecht-based National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
In a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Wednesday, Fidel V. Agcaoili, NDFP peace panel spokesman, accused government negotiators, led by former Labor secretary Nieves Confessor, of being obsessed with demanding for an indefinite cessation of armed hostilities between the government forces and New People’s Army rebels before the resumption of formal peace talks.
He said Confessor and her team allegedly ignored the following NDFP offers of a:
• Holiday ceasefire from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3 2009 on humanitarian grounds.
• Ceasefire for the duration of formal meetings of the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and NDFP negotiating panels as goodwill and confidence-building measure and as incentive to substantive negotiations.
• Ceasefire for the possible orderly and safe release of prisoners of war currently in the hands of the NPA.
Agcaoili sarcastically called as "pipedream" the goal of the Arroyo regime to wipe out the communist revolutionary forces before 2010.
"The falsity of the regime's pipedream is exposed everyday by the NPA's tactical offensives on a nationwide scale," he said.
Agcaoili said the government "secondary pipedream" was to trick the NDFP into capitulation through a protracted ceasefire that would preempt and prevent serious negotiations on social, economic, political and constitutional reforms. He said even this has failed utterly.
The NDFP is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, whose founder -- Jose Maria Sison -- is in exile in Europe.
The NPA, the CPP's armed wing, has been waging a protracted war against the government for the past four decades.
On Sunday, Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. pushed for a Christmas ceasefire between government and the communist rebels and the Muslim secessionist armed group so that the people could observe the annual holiday under an atmosphere of peace.
In a report, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said it was ready to observe a Christmas ceasefire with communist and secessionist rebels but the decision would remain with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as their commander-in-chief.
The communist guerillas have been holding First Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo, commander of the Army Special Forces, after he was captured last November 19 in an encounter in Monkayo, Compostela Valley.
Earlier, Police Officer 3 Eduardo Tumol was also seized by NPA rebels last November 5 in Caraga town, Davao Oriental.
The military and police have been demanding for the release of the captive government men but made it clear that negotiation for their freedom was not an option.
The informal four-day peace talks between the government and the NDFP held in Norway last week also bogged down due to sensitive ceasefire issues.
The communist negotiators accused the government team of "sabotaging" the talks by insisting on a ceasefire between government forces and the NPA rebels as a precondition for the resumption of formal peace negotiations.
The NDFP had proposed a draft joint statement for the resumption of formal negotiations but the government panel rejected it by insisting on a prolonged ceasefire as a precondition for the talks.
The informal meeting was hosted by the Norwegian government.
Last year, the CPP-NPA observed a four-day unilateral ceasefire -- December 24-25 and on December 31-January 1 -- as a matter of policy and in deference to Filipino holiday traditions.
For its part, the government observed 22 consecutive days of "suspension of offensive military operations" against the insurgents that began on December 16 and ended midnight of January 6.
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