DND chief tells peace panel: No talks with NPA if attacks continue

Philippine Defense Chief Delfin Lorenzana. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Monday said he has recommended to the government peace panel to stop talking with communist insurgents if they continue their attacks and “extortion activities.”

Lorenzana said there should be no peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF) if its armed wing, the New People’s Army, continuesw attacking soldiers and policemen.

“I, for one, have already been talking with the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) panel if it’s possible to stop talking for a while with the CPP as long as they can’t control the NPAs who conduct extortion activities, burning of private properties, and kidnappings,” Lorenzana said.

He said he had received reports that the NPA had issued an order for its members to “intensify again” their “extortion activities and attempts to take firearms” from security forces.

“I said those kinds of actions are not conducive to talking about peace. How can you talk about peace if the other side continues its attacks on our policemen and military,” Lorenzana said.

He said the communist insurgents’ position of proceeding with the peace talks while attacks continue was “confusing.”

“In fact, (NDF chair) Fidel Agcaoili attacked me (and said) I did not have a grasp of the peace process. For him, we can talk even if we are shooting each other,” Lorenzana said.

“For me, there should be a ceasefire. We’ll have to have a bilateral ceasefire, then we talk,” he added.

Lorenzana said the NPA did not want the fighting to stop because it wanted its “extortion activities” to continue.

“How can you you have meaningful talks if we continue fighting? They don’t want to let go their extortion activities because they’re earning big there,” he said.

President Duterte on Saturday night urged the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to “please stop waging war” against the government, warning that the military might stop supporting the peace process.

Mr. Duterte said he was ready to declare a “total ceasefire” if the CPP and the NPA were also prepared to declare a truce.

“Would you please stop waging war against (the government)…if we are to talk in the future, then stop waging war because these soldiers also might not want to talk anymore,” the President said at the 50th founding anniversary of Davao del Sur in Digos City.

“You decide. Do not create something which is not acceptable also to me and to the guys doing the fighting,” he said. “I do not control everything and I cannot control everybody.”

Mr. Duterte said he was ready to reciprocate if the communist insurgents declare a truce while the government tries to resolve the crisis in Marawi, where government forces had been battling Maute terrorists and Abu Sayyaf bandits since May 23.

On June 16, the NDF recommended to the CPP to order the NPA to stop offensives in Mindanao while the fighting in Marawi continued.

Two days later, chief government negotiator and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government would also stop offensives against the insurgents. But on that same day, the NPA raided a police station in Maasin, Iloilo.

The 5th round of peace talks with the rebels ground to a halt on May 27 after the government panel withdrew from the talks due to the CPP order telling the the NPA to intensify attacks against security forces.

The CPP ordered the NPA to step up attacks after President Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao due to the crisis in Marawi.

Later on, the CPP offered to fight alongside the military against the terrorists in Marawi but this was turned down by the President. JE/rga