Jose Maria Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
LUCENA CITY – Top communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison on Tuesday warned government forces that the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were ready to thwart attacks from its enemies during its forthcoming holiday truce.
“They are on alert for active defense because the enemy forces continue to wage all-out war and commit all kinds of terrorist acts and atrocities,” Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said in a statement from his base in Utrecht in The Netherlands.
He said the negotiating panel of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) , which is also based in Utrecht, had already received an “advance notice from the CPP” that it will order the NPA to go into unilateral ceasefire mode.
He said the truce order would manifest solidarity with the Filipino people’s celebration of the Yuletide season and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the CPP on Dec. 26.
“The temporary unilateral ceasefire of the NPA demonstrates the high morale and self-confidence of the revolutionary forces and people in their all-round strength,” Sison, also the NDFP chief political consultant, said.
Sison, who lives in Utrecht along with the overseas-based NDFP leaders, said the Filipino people could expect more intensified terrorism and violence from government forces.
“There is already a de facto martial law nationwide even without formal proclamation,” he said. “The escalation of mass murders of suspected rebels and sympathizers in both rural and urban areas is signaled by Duterte’s call for the formation of death squads for the purpose.”
Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte finally sealed the door for the reopening of the peace talks between the government and NDFP.
He also ordered the launching of all-out offensives against the Maoist-inspired insurgents and announced that he would want to create a death squad to match the dreaded NPA’s hit squad, usually called “Sparrow Unit,” which is derived from the acronym of Special Partisan Unit, or Sparu. /atm