Duterte declares holiday ceasefire with Reds

MANILA, Philippines — Deciding not to depart from Christmas tradition, President Duterte has ordered the military to suspend operations against communist rebels over the holidays, Malacañang said yesterday.

“This unilateral ceasefire would lessen the apprehension of the public this Christmas season,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement, adding the government expects the rebels to make “a similar gesture of goodwill.”

Duterte has ordered the suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) against the New People’s Army (NPA), which will be in effect from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2, Roque said.

The Christmas ceasefire has been a customary move by both sides since the launch of formal talks in the late 1980s under the first Aquino administration.

Duterte’s declaration of SOMO will be in effect despite ending peace talks and branding the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines and National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF) as “terrorists.”

Duterte said a ceasefire should not be taken as a sign that he is warming up to the rebels.

Earlier yesterday, Duterte said he was still undecided but was worried about public safety if he would not declare a unilateral truce.

“They might say there’s no ceasefire, a gun battle erupts, then you put a lot of strain on the people,” Duterte told reporters after attending the wake of a police officer who was gunned down by a drug suspect this week.

He said the SOMO would allow citizens a respite from the atrocities of the NPA during the holidays.

“If I will declare a ceasefire it will be for the benefit of the Filipino people. So that they will spend Christmas with less strain, less pressure and they do not expect something like purposely looking for an excuse for an attack,” he said.

Duterte said he is hoping the rebels would reciprocate his gesture of ceasefire.

“If the communist will opt to do this, then it’s fine. Otherwise, we will still hold the ceasefire,” the President said in an interview after attending the 82nd anniversary of the Armed Forces of the Philippines yesterday.

Duterte earlier said he was thinking of declaring the annual Christmas ceasefire with the rebels if they reciprocate.

“The ceasefire is a unilateral action of government to refrain from attacking. A lot of people are going around, even at night, enjoying Christmas Day or whatever. I do not want to add more strain to what people are now suffering,” he said.

There was no immediate sign if the NPA would take a similar step. Both sides have traditionally declared a ceasefire to allow their combatants to take a break and return to their families during the holidays.

The leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), however, dared Duterte to order the pullout of troops in rural communities to show his sincerity in declaring the unilateral ceasefire with the rebels.

“The declaration should translate to the demilitarization of rural communities and for displaced people to be able to return to their homes during the holidays,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said.

Bayan and human rights advocate group Karapatan earlier claimed most of the human rights abuses in the countryside were perpetrated by the military under the counter-insurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan.

The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform, a group of Catholic and evangelical bishops advocating peace in the country, said the Christmas ceasefire “is a wonderful gift to the Filipino family.”

“We have seen the wonders even a unilateral ceasefire declared by both parties can do. It promoted calm and directed our hearts to greater optimism,” the group added.

Duterte cancelled peace talks last month and formally designated the CPP-NPA-NDF as “terrorist organizations,” the first step of a legal process to proscribe their group.

If approved by a court, the CPP-NPA-NDF will be the second group to be proscribed under a seldom-used 2007 anti-terror law after the Abu Sayyaf, a brutal Muslim extremist group that was blacklisted in 2015 for involvement in ransom kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.

The communists have scuttled peace talks in the past after accusing the Philippine government of helping the United Nations and the United States designate them as terrorists.

The rebellion they have waged mostly in the countryside has left more than 40,000 combatants and civilians dead and hampered development in some of the country’s poorest regions.

Duterte also used the communists’ guerrilla activities as a justification for prolonging martial law over Mindanao until Dec. 31 next year.

Martial law, which Duterte proclaimed on May 23 to combat the Islamic State-linked Maute group who seized Marawi City, was initially set to end on Dec. 31 after the defeat of the militants in October.

Duterte, however, did not declare a Christmas truce with other armed groups, including self-proclaimed armed supporters of the Islamic State still operating in Mindanao. – Elizabeth Marcelo, Edu Punay, AFP, AP