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Palace: CPP statement recalling order to step up attacks needed

May 30, 2017 | 11:30am

Palace: CPP statement recalling order to step up attacks needed

Members and supporters of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines display placards during a brief rally near the Presidential Palace in Manila in a show of force two days before the resumption of peace talks with the government in March. AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, file

MANILA, Philippines — The Communist Party of the Philippines should put in writing that it is recalling an order to intensify attacks against government forces, one of the issues that stalled the peace talks, Malacañang said Tuesday.

The government has suspended the peace negotiations with the communists because of the continued attacks by the New People’s Army against security forces.

The government panel also cited the CPP’s order for the NPA to intensify offensives against the military and police in defiance of President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law declaration in Mindanao.

The National Democratic Front (NDF), which represents the communists in the peace talks, has asked the CPP to withdraw the order.

But Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said the directive should be in writing and should come with confidence-building measures.

“A formal statement should be given, if at all. And, of course, the accompanying confidence-building measures must be in place,” the presidential spokesman said.

Abella said the goodwill measures would be dependent on what the NDF is willing to offer.

In a statement released over the weekend, the NDF accused the government of making "unreasonable demands."

NDF chair Fidel Agcaoili said the CPP’s order was a response to the military’s intensified offensives and "widespread human rights violations preceding and following the declaration of martial law in the whole of Mindanao."

Agcaoili said the demand for an immediate ceasefire was unreasonable “because there are no agreements on reforms in place."

He said the government was demanding that the NPA stop its attacks while the military is waging what he called an “all-out war” against the communist forces.

CPP: No recall at this time

The communist party on Monday blamed the government panel for the suspension of talks.

"The cancellation of the fifth round of peace talks is the sole responsibility of the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines). Its negotiating panel imposed unnecessary, last-minute and unacceptable preconditions for talks to proceed," it said in a statement.

The party said the suspension of talks has derailed discussions on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms. CASER was meant to help address issues like landlessness and unfair labor practices that are seen as the root causes of armed conflict.

"The CPP and all revolutionary forces in the Philippines are united with the NDFP Negotiating Panel in urging their counterparts GRP to resume the fifth round of formal talks to discuss the substantive agenda of socio-economic reforms," the party said.

In the statement, the communist party said that it has received word of recommendations from the NDF panel to reconsider the call for offensives against the government.

"Heightened AFP offensives under martial law all over Mindanao, however, do not encourage such a reconsideration at this time," the party said.

The CPP claimed that "the Filipino people clamor for the NPA to wage more and more offensives amid aerial bombardments, artillery shelling and machine gun strafing and worsening abuses of human rights committed by the AFP."