NDFP slams local talks with rebs in Sorsogon

LUCENA CITY—An Utrecht-based official of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on Friday shot down a proposal by Sorsogon Gov. Raul Lee to start talks in the local level with communist rebels.

Localized peace talks are an “old and futile attempt” of the government to split the revolutionary movement, Luis Jalandoni, NDFP peace panel chief, said in an e-mail statement sent to the Inquirer from The Netherlands.

Jalandoni predicted that local peace talks “are bound to fail.” He said the communist leadership has repeatedly made it clear that only the negotiating panel of the NDFP is authorized to engage in peace negotiations.

Jalandoni said the localized peace talks are part of the the military’s counterinsurgency plan called Oplan Bayanihan.

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista on Thursday admitted that Oplan Bayanihan had failed in its goal to wipe out the communist rebels.

Jalandoni said the local peace talks concept is also in line with the so-called “new approach” of President Aquino, the AFP and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process under Secretary Teresita Deles.

On Wednesday, Lee, in a statement, said the local government would be willing to provide resources in local talks between the military and communist rebels.

Last week, Sorsogon took center stage in the 44-year-old communist rebellion after eight rebels were killed in a clash with soldiers in Juban town.

The rebel fatalities included Frankie Joe Soriano, better known by his pseudonym “Ka Greg Bañares,” the NDFP spokesperson in Bicol.

Last July 7, a university co-ed was wounded after suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels fired at police securing a fun run in Gubat, Sorsogon. The next day, communist guerillas under the NPA’s Celso Minguez Command clashed with soldiers in Irosin, Sorsogon.

The rebels admitted a comrade, Pinky Boticario, alias “Ka Gerald,” was also killed in the clash, but the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) insisted in a press statement that the rebels also killed eight Army soldiers in the clash.

Lt. Col. Neil Anthony Estrella, spokesperson of the military’s Southern Luzon Command based here in Camp Nakar, belied the CPP claim of killing soldiers.

Estrella called on local government officials to initiate localized peace talks to prevent more bloodshed, saying that doing so “could convince NPA rebels to surrender and live with their loved ones again.”

Peace negotiations between the communist rebels and the government have been stalled since 2004.