Reds foresee ‘struggle, alliance’ with Duterte admin

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The Communist Party of the Philippines forecast “continuing struggle and alliance” with the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

This was after the government released peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to participate in the negotiations in Oslo, Norway on August 22 to 27.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, the CPP said, “(It) foresees continuing struggle and alliance with the Duterte regime as the Filipino people are confronted daily with problems of joblessness, landlessness, rising costs of living, low wages and income, militarization and so on.”

The CPP added that they hope that “mutual efforts by the NDFP and the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) under Duterte will accelerate peace talks with unprecedented speed and surpass the amount of issues that will be covered and resolved.”

To further boost peace negotiations, the CPP said it is set to issue over the next few days “a unilateral declaration of ceasefire to the New People's Army and the people's militias.”

‘Other NDFP consultants, too’

While celebrating with the release of the first batch of NDF consultants, the CPP also said they anticipate the release of the rest of the 22 NDFP consultants so that they can participate in the scheduled resumption of peace talks.

The release of all NDFP peace consultants is a reaffirmation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and other NDFP-GRP agreements.

“(It) will boost several-fold the confidence of the revolutionary forces in GRP President Duterte's determination to work with the NDFP in peace negotiations,” the CPP said.

The release of the NDFP consultants is not only an act of goodwill, but can also serve as “a venue to discuss the roots of the armed conflict and forge agreements to resolve the urgent as well as strategic problems of the people in the socio-economic, political and cultural fields,” the CPP added.

‘Empty Philippine prisons’

The CPP is also urging Duterte “to empty the GRP's prisons of all political prisoners”.

Human rights alliance Karapatan said there are 520 political prisoners all over the country, most if not all, are facing alleged trumped-up charges.

“(Duterte) can proclaim a policy of ending the dirty legal tactic of slapping trumped up criminal charges against activists which subject them to unjust and prolonged detention,” the CPP said.