Duterte threatens NDFP negotiators with arrest

DAVAO CITY–President Duterte, angered by an announcement by communist rebels that they would step up offensives in reaction to his martial law declaration, on Wednesday told their peace negotiators he would order them arrested if they return to the country from the aborted talks in the Netherlands.

“I am warning the leaders whom I have released and who are now talking to the representatives of my government: Do not attempt to come home. I will arrest all of you and throw you to the slammer,” he said at the Philippine Navy’s 119th anniversary rites.

“I will arrest you and all the elderly [leaders]. I will arrest all of you again. And if needed, they will just die there inside the prison,” he said.

The President made the threat as Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), proposed to deploy New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas to fight the terror groups that besieged Marawi City.

Mr. Duterte imposed martial law on the entire Mindanao early last week after the Islamic State-inspired Abu Sayyaf and Maute group led by Isnilon Hapilon battled government forces that tried to capture the terrorist leader in his hideout in Marawi. Nearly 130 have been killed in the fighting in the predominantly Muslim city since May 23.

“The NPA have forces near Marawi that can be redeployed. There are also forces in North Cotabato, but they would really have to walk very far,” Sison said in the Dutch city of Noordwijk where the latest round of talks was to be held. He serves as chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the talks.

The proposed tactical alliance between the NPA and security forces would have to be discussed with the government peace negotiators and the President himself, Sison said.

“There are operational concerns. They need to discuss the division of areas,” Sison said. “It would be difficult to have a free-for-all. It’s dangerous.”

Sison also proposed “a positive common stand” against the terror groups gripping Marawi.

There would be no need for martial law to continue if the terror groups and their networks would be dealt with, he said.

The scheduled May 27-June 2 fifth round of talks between the government and the NDFP was canceled by the government on Saturday after the CPP ordered the NPA to step up attacks on government forces implementing martial rule.

The CPP issued the directive after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the NPA would be one of the targets of martial law.

Lorenzana later clarified that the NPA was not a specific target, but warned that rebels engaged in criminal acts “will be dealt with, with or without martial law.”

The NDFP later recommended to the CPP to reconsider its order, but because of communication problems this would take time to reach the guerrilla units concerned.

The President’s threat to arrest the communist leaders and NDFP negotiators and Sison’s proposed tactical alliance against the terror groups in Marawi came as Lorenzana and left-wing groups continued blaming each other for the stalled talks.

Lorenzana said in a statement on Wednesday the President suspended the peace talks “based not only on my input but the whole government bureaucracy.”

“I did not talk to the President about suspending the talks but I discussed it with some of the Cabinet members,” he told the Inquirer separately. “I do not know who recommended the suspension.”

Lorenzana was reacting to the militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya (Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya  ng Pilipinas), which blamed him for stalling the talks.

“While I am flattered by Pamalakaya’s assertion that I was to blame for the suspension of the fifth round of talks … the truth is that my participation in government decision-making is purely recommendatory,” Lorenzana said in his statement. “It is the President who makes the final decision.”

Lorenzana said Pamalakaya’s “narrow-mindedness” prevented it from seeing that the government’s withdrawal from the talks was due to the announced offensives by the NPA.

“To blame someone else is the height of naiveté,” he said.

On Monday, Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap called Lorenzana a “highly dangerous” threat to the talks and demanded the resignation of the “peace saboteur and warmongering secretary.”

“We can’t expect these peace negotiations to prosper when this antipeace is in the picture,” Hicap said. —WITH REPORTS FROM KARLOS MANLUPIG, PHILIP C. TUBEZA, LEILA B. SALAVERRIA