Lawmaker hits Lorenzana for tagging NPA as ‘terrorists’

Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate (left) with Silvestre Bello III, chief government negotiator, in Nordwijk, The Netherlands for the fourth round of peace talks with the NDFP, Monday, April 3, 2017. (Photo from the Zarate’s Facebook page)

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, vice-chair of the House Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, slammed Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Monday for “undermining the cordial atmosphere of the peace process” by tagging the New People’s Army (NPA) as “terrorists.”

“This name-calling and militarist labeling does not help the fourth round of the peace negotiations that is about to start today here in the Netherlands and is only spoiling the positive strides made by both the GRP and the NDFP in the current stage of the peace process,” Zarate said in a statement.

The start of the fourth round of peace talks was originally scheduled for Sunday but was moved to Monday. The talks will be continued until April 6 in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

“As it is now, there is no simultaneous unilateral ceasefires declared by the AFP and the NPA and a bilateral ceasefire is yet to be discussed in the current talks,” Zarate added. “In fact, there is no letup in the AFP’s counterinsurgency operations, including bombing runs, in many parts of the country.”

Zarate said that even government peace panel head Secretary Silvestre Bello III admitted that skirmishes and NPA activities should be expected without a ceassefire in place.

Last Saturday, Lorenzana condemned the NPA’s recent attacks on government troops and even private companies, tagging the communist armed group as “terrorists” who were “anti-development, anti-progress, and anti-poor.”

READ: Defense chief condemns recent attacks of NPA ‘terrorists’

“The AFP itself continues its military operations disguised as peace missions and have already bombed civilian settlements like in Abra, caused displacement of farmers and indigenous people,” Zarate said.

He also added that, since the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) renewed its operations, the spate of human rights violations and extrajudicial killings against activists had also spiked, particularly in Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro.

Zarate called on the negotiators, both from the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and peace advocates to ignore “militarist” statements similar to those issued by Lorenzana.

“Since the same do not advance the cause for a just peace in the country, especially in this crucial stage of the peace talks when the negotiations center on the socio-economic reforms, considered as the crux or soul of the peace process,” he added. /atm/rga