NPA anniversary march disrupts EDSA traffic

MANILA, Philippines - There was no failure of intelligence when the New People’s Army (NPA) staged a  “lightning” rally along EDSA in Quezon City yesterday, but a ranking police official had it investigated to see if Cubao police station commander Supt. Benjie Tremor committed lapses.

Although Director Oscar Albayalde, National Capital Region Police Office chief, said he was informed of the NPA rally in advance, he also wanted to know if Tremor acted accordingly during the rally, which created heavy traffic congestion along EDSA for about 30 minutes.

“There is no problem with the rally because we allow it even if they have no permit from the local government units. But I wanted to know whether Tremor managed to ease the flow of traffic despite the rallyists occupying the middle of EDSA,” Albayalde told reporters.

He said the protestors were unarmed militants in combat uniforms.

Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, Quezon City Police District chief, would investigate the incident and report to Albayalde, who promised to act on his recommendations.

Initial reports indicate that the rally started at about 8 a.m. and lasted for 20 minutes. The NPA conducted the protest before its 48th founding anniversary on March 29. Policemen arrived at the scene to direct traffic.

At the Mindanao Peace Summit in Davao City, Secretary Jesus Dureza described achieving peace in the country as “a piece-by-piece process that has to be coupled with development” if it is to succeed.

“There can be no peace without development.  There can be no sustainable development without peace,” Dureza, also the presidential adviser on the peace process, said.

He added that the message of President Duterte, who celebrates his 72nd birthday today, is very simple: everybody could help bring peace in the land.

Dureza acknowledged that there is no magic formula to achieve peace.

In Pampanga, Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said the National Democratic Front (NDF) intends to push for free distribution of lands to farmers and the industrialization of rural areas when it goes to the bargaining table for the fourth round of peace talks with the government.

He urged “the peasant sector in the country to rally behind the working draft” so as “to dismantle land monopoly and distribute land to tillers for free,” noting that this is part of the declaration of principles within the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms done by the NDF and government negotiating panels earlier.

Casilao said “a majority of the NPAs are farmers who were victimized by displacement, feudal and semi-feudal forms of exploitation, driven to bear arms to fight oppression and exploitation.”

In Cagayan de Oro, the NDF-Northern Mindanao asked for a 10-day suspension of police and military operations in Bukidnon starting yesterday so it could safely release Police Officer 2 Anthony Natividad who was captured by rebels while on his way to a medical examination.

Cesar Renerio, NDF-Northcentral Mindanao Region spokesman, said after background checks and investigations, the rebels found that Natividad has not committed any crime and should be released.

In exchange, he asked that the police and military order their troops to stand down in the towns of Talakag, Lantapan, Baungon, Pangantucan and Kalilangan and in the cities of Malaybalay and Valencia.

But Rigoberto Sanchez, an NPA spokesman, said the rebels’ southern Mindanao command would continue conducting offensives as it remains in active defense against “bullheaded combat and civic military operations.”

Taking note of the need to protect the youth from extremism, Dureza lauded the Mindanao State University for bringing together all the stakeholders for an inclusive engagement that may contribute to achieving peace.

He said the university is “a factory of young people holding intelligent positions” but could also become a “factory of violent extremists if the root causes of the conflict are not addressed.” 

Dureza stressed that the Duterte government continues to work toward achieving peace in the country by talking with communists and Moro rebel groups.

The Sandiganbayan 6th Division has allowed Tawi-Tawi Rep. Ruby Sahali-Tan to join the fourth round of talks in the Netherlands. Tan is facing criminal charges for failing to file her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth when she was provincial vice governor. – With Ding Cervantes, Jose Rodel Clapano, Gerry Lee Gorit, John Paul Jubelag, Elizabeth Marcelo, Romina Cabrera