AFP backs restart of talks with communist rebels

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) expressed full support for President Duterte’s decision to resume the peace talks with communist rebels.

But while things are still being sorted out for the talks to proceed, the military is not yet ready to suspend its operations against the insurgents.

“The military is an instrument of national power and we fully support the decision of our political leaders,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal, commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Eastern Mindanao Command.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Louie Villanueva said the troops deployed for anti-insurgency operations would continue performing their mission.

“The Army shall by all means abide and support the government stand and thrust on the renewed peace talks. It shall continue to perform its mandate and contribute to the permanent and peaceful closure of all armed conflicts by adhering to the primacy of peace process,” Villa-nueva said.

He gave assurance the Army will remain steadfast in performing its task and will always be on guard to prevent the communist insurgents from exploiting the peace talks.

The communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels have used the peace talks as an opportunity to recruit, rearm and reorganize their ranks while attacking government forces.

Duterte had suspended the peace talks, accusing the rebels of bad faith by attacking soldiers and civilians while negotiating peace with the government.

For his part, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV warned of a possible demoralization among the ranks of security forces if the government pushes through with its peace talks with the communist rebels.

Trillanes said the resumption of peace talks with the communists would nullify the gains made by the government forces against the NPA which, he said, faced a huge setback when the negotiations broke down last year.

Instead of dealing with the rebel leadership, Trillanes said the better move would be to localize the peace process.

Trillanes, a former Navy officer, explained localized peace talks involve the government dealing with the different communist fronts and not the personalities hiding in the Netherlands.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief, also aired his apprehension about resuming the peace talks with the communists, saying past experience showed efforts to forge peace with them would ultimately fail.

“History will tell us it has become a vicious cycle. Peace talks, violations, then the blame game, and then peace talks again,” Lacson said.

“So the government should seriously consider other strategies to resolve this decades-long, four decades (communist insurgency),” he said. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marvin Sy, Emmanuel Tupas