Cabinet to discuss ceasefire with CPP-NPA-NDF on Monday

MANILA, Philippines -- The ceasefire with communist rebels will be discussed on Monday in a Cabinet meeting in Malacañan following a pronouncement by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that it is ready to declare its own truce.

 

“I will make my corresponding recommendations to the president and the whole Cabinet tomorrow Monday during the scheduled Cabinet meeting in the afternoon,” presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza said in a statement issued Sunday.

 

Dureza declined to elaborate on his recommendations, which are expected to set the tone for the incoming peace talks next month.  

 

President Rodrigo Duterte declared a truce with the communists during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25 as a goodwill measure for the start of the peace talks next month.

 

The president, however, lifted the ceasefire Saturday night after the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the communists, failed to reciprocate his declaration within the deadline he set.

 

Duterte called on the NDF to declare its own ceasefire after members of the New People’s Army (NPA), the rebels’ armed wing, attacked government forces in Davao del Norte on July 27, killing one militiaman and wounding four others.

 

An hour after Duterte called off the truce, the communist leadership expressed readiness to implement a ceasefire.

 

“The leadership of the CPP-NPA-NDF announced through the media its belated but still strategic and awaited decision to also declare its own unilateral ceasefire,” Dureza said.  

 

“Indeed, this is a welcome development. It affirms the value of the president's firm actions for peace. This is what we have been waiting for,” he added.

 

 

Dureza said there was “high expectation” that the NDF would immediately announce its own ceasefire after Duterte’s declaration.

 

“This was precisely the reason for the President's statement in the SONA that he was calling on and expecting the NDF to respond accordingly,” the presidential peace adviser said.

 

According to Dureza, the NDF responded to Duterte’s call by saying that it is still waiting for “precise written orders” on the ceasefire.

 

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines and subsequently the Philippine National Police issued their respective policy guidance in writing on how they would carry on with a ceasefire in place,” Dureza said.  

 

“Copies thereof were sent immediately to the NDF in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Yet in spite of this, there was still no declaration from them,” he added.

 

Dureza noted that Duterte asked the communist leadership to explain the NPA attack on government militias in Davao del Norte last July 27.

 

“He (Duterte) gave the NDF the end of the following day, July 28 to do so. Still the expected declaration was not issued,” he said.  

 

 

The same appeal was made by the president during his visit to a military camp in Asuncion, Davao del Norte. Dureza said Duterte gave the communists until 5 p.m. of July 30 to declare a truce or he would lift the government ceasefire.

 

“By 5 o'clock in the afternoon of July 30, the final deadline the President announced lapsed and still there was no declaration from the NDF. But the president still patiently waited,” Dureza said.

 

Instead of announcing a truce, the NPA issued “disturbing” messages, he added.

 

According to him, the NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Command had claimed that the government's unilateral ceasefire was "non-existent" and that the military was “sabotaging” the truce.

 

“Its (communist movement) leadership also belittled the efforts of the President, saying that he could not dictate on the revolutionaries,” Dureza said.   

 

“By 7 p.m., knowing that an unanswered ceasefire declaration was not for the best interest of the nation, the President then authorized the release of a statement declaring the lifting of the ceasefire,” he added.

 

About an hour after Duterte called off the truce, exiled CPP founder Jose Maria Sison appeared on television saying the communists were supposed to announce a truce at 8 p.m. or three hours after the ultimatum set by the president.

 

“It is very clear that the President walked the extra mile for peace. And no doubt, he will still continue to do so at any given opportunity,” Dureza said.  

 

Officials previously said that the issues surrounding the ceasefire would not affect the resumption of the peace negotiations on Aug. 20 to 27 in Oslo, Norway.

 

“We know even when we agreed to resume peace negotiations, we have tabled an agenda item the discussion on the current ceasefire. At that time, we did not even consider that a unilateral ceasefire will be declared by the President in the SONA,” Dureza said in a previous interview.

 

Communist guerillas have been waging an armed struggle against the government since the late 1960s. The rebellion, the only remaining communist insurgency in the region, has left more than 40,000 people dead.