Military won’t reciprocate truce declared by Reds

The government has ruled out a ceasefire with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), despite the party’s declaration of a unilateral two-day truce during Christmas and the CPP’s 55th anniversary on Dec. 26.

Security officials said they arrived at the decision after learning their lessons from the past when such suspension of offensives was purportedly used by the insurgents to regroup while keeping up hostile actions.

“As previously stated by National Security Adviser Eduardo M. Año, there will be no suspension of military and nonmilitary operations,” National Security Council spokesperson Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said on Sunday.

The CPP earlier ordered the NPA to suspend its offensive against government forces nationwide from 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 25 to 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 26 to mark the party’s anniversary and in solidarity with the people’s traditional holiday celebration.

“The two-day ceasefire aims to allow the peasant masses and NPA units in their area to conduct assemblies, meetings, or gatherings to celebrate the Party’s anniversary, look back at past achievements, and pay tribute to all heroes and martyrs of the Philippine revolution,” the CPP’s central committee and the NPA’s national operations command said on Saturday.

Earlier ceasefires

It was the first holiday truce declared by the rebels since December 2019 and the first unilateral ceasefire since the period of March 26 to April 30, 2020, as part of a global armistice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government reciprocated the ceasefire in both instances, although sporadic violence still occurred during those periods.

The latest truce declaration came as the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the CPP’s political wing, agreed in November to hold exploratory talks that could pave the way for future peace negotiations to end the world’s longest-running insurgency.

The two parties issued a Joint Statement in Oslo, Norway, agreeing to a “principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict” by, among others, addressing its “socioeconomic and political drivers.”

Año and the Armed Forces of the Philippines earlier said military operations against the rebels would continue despite the Oslo statement.

“We wish to emphasize that there were no preconditions [such as a ceasefire] that the government agreed to when both sides agreed to ‘exploratory talks’ to end the local communist armed conflict,” Malaya said.

The government, he said, has learned from the lessons of the past when ceasefires were merely used by communist rebels to “consolidate and regroup” and “to lick their wounds, regroup, and attack innocent civilians.”

“They themselves admitted [in their statement] that they will try to hold assemblies, meetings or gatherings which is why they have been adamant in demanding a ceasefire from government forces,” Malaya said.

AFP public affairs chief Col. Xerxes Trinidad said the unilateral ceasefire declaration of the CPP was “an empty statement as they do not have the leadership and support of the masses,” asserting that they should lay down their arms instead.

“Their capability to plan and stage attacks was already diminished, but we are expecting harassments to create unnecessary disturbance or noise. Nonetheless, our forces on the ground were already warned and are ready. It is much better for them to abandon the armed struggle,” he said.

“We will continue with our ISO (internal security operations) campaign to finally end the communist armed threats,” he added.

The Marxist-Leninist-Maoist CPP was founded on Dec. 26, 1968, by the late activist and writer Jose Maria Sison. The party created the NPA on March 29, 1969.

Sison, who had lived in self-imposed exile in Europe since 1987, died in December 2022, in Utrecht, the Netherlands, at 83.

READ: Reds declare 2-day holiday ceasefire, a first in 4 years