Shortened truce with rebels ‘unfortunate’
MALACANANG said Wednesday it was "unfortunate" that the communist rebels decided to cut short its holiday ceasefire with the government by almost two weeks.
“We know that ceasefire would be good for the rebels because it’s an opportunity for the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front) rebels to come down from the mountains and to be with their family. By doing so, they have cut short the time the rebels can spend with their families. It is unfortunate,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.
On Tuesday, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panel head Luis Jalandoni announced the rebels’ plan to end observation of truce on January 2 instead of January 15.
He said the rebels decided to cut short the ceasefire since President Benigno Aquino III did not issue a reciprocal declaration for a longer cessation of hostilities.
Apparently, the rebels and the government agreed on a ceasefire from December 20, 2012 to January 15, 2013 in a meeting in The Netherlands.
The meeting was attended by Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Ronald Llamas and government peace panel head Alexander Padilla.
Lacierda denied that the government did not comply with the ceasefire agreement.
“That is expected from somebody who cannot blame themselves, and they know that a ceasefire of that effect would be detrimental to them so they decided to cut it short and blame government. Insofar as the government is concerned, we have honored the ceasefire. It is something that we would like to have also for our own soldiers to be able to spend time with their families,” he said.
He noted that Llamas’ joint statement in The Hague “clearly showed that we intend to respect the ceasefire.”
“The AFP was informed of the ceasefire so there was no reason for them to allege that, in the absence of the presidential directive, that we did not honor the ceasefire,” he added.
Malacanang, meanwhile, remains optimistic that the peace talks with the communist insurgents will not be affected by the abridged ceasefire.
“We remain committed to pursuing peace in all fronts. We have seen that; we have proven our sincerity with the MILF. We are prepared to seek peace with CPP-NPA-NDF,” he said.
Asked if the Palace sees it as setback in the peace process, Lacierda said: “CPP-NPA-NDF has always been making excuses. (The) first excuse was they wanted the number of their political consultants freed, we said we agreed on a Jasig list, they refused to. Their Jasig list was corrupted. And now, they’re coming up with other stumbling blocks to peace. They keep on using reasons not to push the envelope for peace.” (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)