NATIONAL Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Monday, July 2, recommended the end of peace talks between the government and the communist group, following reviews of their activities, including the plan on President Rodrigo Duterte’s ouster.
Lorenzana, in his statement issued on Monday, said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) conspired to craft a three-year plan to “advance the revolutionary movement” that included Duterte's ouster should he refuse to implement a “coalition government.”
During the last unilateral ceasefire from 2016 to January 2017, the government found out that the communist group held the largest—Second People’s Congress in October and November 2016 and the Central Committee Plenum last December 2016.
Lorenzana said the national military commission of the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA) reinforced the earlier plenum agenda on January 2017. He added that using the silence in the fighting following the ceasefire, the group was able to consolidate, recover their lost ground or mass base and expand their influence.
"Based on the foregoing deliberate actions of the NDF-CPP-NPA, it is obvious that they are not sincere to talk peace as well as end the armed conflict. They are employing the revolutionary dual tactics to show the semblance of peace but continually conducts violence and terror acts on the ground," Lorenzana said.
He said the ongoing review of all peace documents and agreements revealed that it lays down the foundation of the power sharing to a coalition government. He added that the government panel in past administration recommended the abrogation of the talks because the panel has come to the conclusion that “we were just being taken for a ride.”
The government panel then made serious studies and they believed the NDF panel is not truthful, sincere, and honest except to get concessions, such as the release of the high ranking party members and giving their armed components to recover lost grounds and mass base,” Lorenzana said.
He also said that majority of the Indigenous Cultural Communities of the Indigenous Peoples’ (ICCs/IPs) in Mindanao do not want a ceasefire primarily because it means the NPA will come back to their communities, and that the IPs just wanted for the communist groups to publicly apologize for their act of crimes.
The NDF-CPP-NPA could not also comply with the four preconditions of the president, Lorenzana said, for them to go back to the negotiating table. He added that these preconditions are considered by the president as sign of sincerity, but nothing happened.
Lastly, Lorenzana said, the CPP-NPA has been tagged as a "terrorist organization" locally and internationally. He added that the communist groups had their chance to work for peace when Duterte appointed four of their members to the Cabinet, but they betrayed the government when they used their positions to advance the revolutionary movement.