Military calls for joint ceasefire deal with communist rebels

A top official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Sunday called for a joint ceasefire agreement between the government and communist rebels so that third-party observers could ensure its implementation.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr., AFP spokesperson, said a joint ceasefire agreement would also be more durable than both sides declaring unilateral ceasefires that they could easily scrap.

“What is more important is the signing of a joint ceasefire agreement that will have mechanisms and third-party implementers who will make sure that both sides will follow and will be made accountable for any violation,” Padilla said in a radio interview.

Taken aback

Communist rebel negotiators were taken aback by what they said was a turnaround in the government’s acceptance of a proposal for the rebels and the government to separately declare a ceasefire before a bilateral ceasefire agreement could be forged.

But Fidel Agcaoili, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief negotiator, said the NDFP was “willing to be flexible” in talks for a truce. The NDFP is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Agcaoili issued the statement after the government peace panel chair, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, disclosed that President Duterte was not keen on reinstating an order for government troops to cease offensives against the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP.

Bello said Mr. Duterte wanted a bilateral deal.

Agcaoili said this “last-minute announcement” of the government on its refusal to restore a ceasefire order for government troops “constitutes an unexpected departure” from an agreement reached on March 11 in back-channel talks.

During the back-channel talks, he said, both parties agreed to separately but simultaneously declare ceasefire orders before the fourth round of talks between the NDFP and the government started.

“The NDFP and the [government] agreed to this measure in the interim in order to move the talks forward and improve the atmosphere for negotiations after the impasse last February,” Agcaoili said.

But Agcaoili said this unexpected kink would not derail the talks, which would be held in Noordwijk in South Holland province in The Netherlands. The fourth round of talks will run until April 6.

He said the NDFP negotiating panel was “willing to be flexible and is open to discussing with its counterpart what kind of bilateral ceasefire agreement is desired by [the government] in place of the unilateral ceasefire.”