‘No Rody order to stop peace talks with Reds’

MANILA, Philippines - Peace talks with communist rebels will continue, Malacañang said yesterday, despite calls by some senators for the suspension of the negotiations in the light of the recent raid on a police station in Iloilo province by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

“As of this moment, there is no instruction from the President to discontinue the government’s peace negotiations,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing yesterday at Malacañang.

Prospero de Vera, an adviser to the government panel negotiating with the National Democratic Front (NDF), said continuing the peace talks has its advantages. The NDF negotiates with the government on behalf of the communists.

“We should never lose hope that a peace agreement can be signed. But it must always be within the parameters of having a conducive environment for peace talks,” De Vera said. 

“That’s why in the last round, in the fifth round, the President instructed the peace panel not to continue with the negotiations because the environment for conducive negotiations was not present,” he added.

Asked if has doubts about the rebels’ sincerity, De Vera said: “We will have to keep on telling them and asking them why, in spite of their pronouncements, clashes still happen on the ground. They have to be the one to answer that.”

The government suspended the fifth round of talks with the NDF after the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) ordered its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA) to intensify attacks on government forces implementing martial law in Mindanao.

Last Saturday, the NDF asked the NPA to refrain from launching offensives against the police and the military in Mindanao so they could concentrate on their campaign against the terrorist groups. The government reciprocated the declaration the following day.

The peace process, however, suffered a setback when about 50 NPA members attacked the Maasin Municipal Police Station in Iloilo City last Sunday and seized firearms, a laptop, a base radio, cash and jewelry.

While the incident did not happen in Mindanao, the government was disappointed by what it described as the “opportunistic” attack.

Some senators have asked the Duterte administration to put on hold the peace talks with the communists as they expressed doubts on the rebels’ trustworthiness and their capability to control their ground forces.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson cited the need for clear proof that the communist leadership could still rein in the NPA.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said it has become harder to trust the rebels following last Sunday’s attack in Iloilo.  

For Sen. Gregorio Honasan, the NDF should condemn NPA atrocities to prove its sincerity in talking peace with the government. – With Paolo Romero