CBCP exhorts gov’t to end NPA rebellion

A ranking member of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the government must exhaust all efforts to end the 38-year Maoist rebellion waged by the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

While expressing appreciation for the government’s move to declare a three-week ceasefire with the NPA, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said an effort should be made to work for a lasting ceasefire and end the conflict.

“It should be ceasefire all the time. (They should also declare a) ceasefire in their word war,” Arguelles said.

Arguelles made the statement after President Arroyo vowed to step up the campaign against communist insurgents even after declaring a three-week ceasefire with the NPA.

The three-week Suspension of Offensive Military Operations (SOMO) is said to be the longest in a while, with past ceasefires only covering Dec. 24 to 25 and Dec. 31 to Jan. 1.

Arguelles said he has always recommended to the President to initiate a ceasefire with the rebels during the holidays.

“If possible it should be ceasefire all throughout because war is not godly. If possible, it should be ceasefire all the time so we could have lasting peace in the country,” Arguelles said.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the NPA, along with the National Democratic Front (NDF) as its political umbrella group, has been waging a communist insurgency for almost four decades, which has resulted in the loss of more than 40,000 lives.

The CPP-NPA-NDF withdrew from peace talks with the government in 2005 at the height of Mrs. Arroyo’s political crisis after the rebels thought that she would be ousted.

The three-week truce was seen as part of the government’s efforts to revive the negotiations, even as the President remained adamant in her resolve to wipe out the communists by the end of her term in 2010.

Last week, Mrs. Arroyo reiterated her call to lawmakers to approve her amnesty proclamation for rebels.

Despite the three-week SOMO, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the military will continue its defensive mode.

Esperon said the AFP will continue its protective patrols and civic-military operations in the countryside during the 22-day SOMO.

“We will continue to conduct prophylactic patrols around our detachments and bases. We will also patrol areas where we think there are known groupings of enemies which are about to strike,” he said.

With the SOMO implemented, Esperon said the soldiers and the rebels would be able to enjoy the holiday season to the fullest.

“We want everybody to feel that peace is better than going to war,” Esperon said.

Esperon earlier proposed a three-year ceasefire with CPP-NPA-NDF to allow the resumption of the stalled peace talks.

“There are alternatives,” Esperon said. “As I said all along, I am willing to go on a three-year ceasefire before we go on peace talks. It’s useless going on peace talks if you don’t have ceasefire.” 

But the communists trashed Esperon’s proposal, saying that for the peace talks to continue, the government should first work to remove the CPP-NPA from the international terror group listing of the US and European Union.

Peace talks with the communists began in 1986 but very little progress has been made.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said the communists will be forced to talk peace if the NPA is completely wiped out.

“Only the defeat of the New People’s Army can force the Communist Party of the Philippines- National Democratic Front to seriously pursue peace talks with the government,” Gonzales said.

Jesuit priest Fr. Romeo Intengan, one of the co-founders of the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) with Gonzales, said the military, with steadfast commitment to human rights and improved combat skills and intelligence gathering, will eventually defeat the communists.

Another ranking prelate, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, for his part, expressed his doubts on whether the military can completely wipe out the communists within three years.

“The insurgency in the Philippines is ideological, meaning an ideology dies only with the death of the ideologue,” Cruz said in a statement posted on the CBCP website.

Crus pointed out the communist movement has remained in the country for decades and it would be extremely difficult for the military to attain the objective, even before the three-year deadline imposed by the President.  – With Jaime Laude, Paolo Romero