A UNILATERAL truce has been announced by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), ordering its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to go on a four-day ceasefire that will take effect from December 25 to 26 and December 31 to January 1.
According to the communist group, the temporary ceasefire order is being issued in solidarity with the Filipino people as they conduct simple celebrations of their traditional holidays, amid grave social and economic conditions.
“This is also to mark the 57th anniversary of the Party and celebrate the ideological, political, and organizational gains and revolutionary achievements during the past year of the Party’s rectification movement,” it added.
As this developed, Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., executive director of the state-run National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), criticized the call for a ceasefire as “hollow and unverifiable.”
“It was not coordinated with the government and lacks any accountability mechanism. Worse, the CPP itself orders NPA units to remain in ‘active defense mode’ and on ‘high alert.’ This is not peace; it is a tactical deception that endangers communities and local officials,” Torres said.
According to the NTF-Elcac official, whose agency has been pushing a “whole-of-nation” approach in addressing the insurgency’s root causes, such as poverty and inequality, through community-driven development programs since its creation in 2018, “public safety is not seasonal.”
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police will continue their constitutional duty to protect Filipinos. Our security forces stand vigilant while families gather and travel, not out of hostility, but out of duty,” he said in a statement.
“Context is critical: the NPA’s strength is a fraction of its 1980s peak. This decline resulted from sustained whole-of-nation efforts, improved governance, and the courage of former rebels who chose peace. Filipinos have rejected armed struggle in favor of stability and progress,” Torres added.
Real peace momentum lies in the thousands of former rebels reintegrating lawfully, not in symbolic ceasefires timed for propaganda, according to the agency.
Torres also cautioned against weaponizing “peace” to obscure decades of violence, saying “credibility requires verifiable action, not empty words.”
“To remaining NPA members: The country has moved forward. Lay down your arms. Amnesty and reintegration programs offer dignified pathways home. Reconciliation requires sincerity, not seasonal pauses in violence,” Torres urged on December 15.
Meanwhile, Tonyo Cruz, a Manila Bulletin newspaper columnist, said that “most Filipinos certainly welcome peace this Christmas and New Year holidays, so any ceasefire is positive, good, and beautiful.”
“It is negative, bad, and ugly that the military reportedly rejects any ceasefire. The President can still decide to match or reciprocate the communists’ unilateral truce,” Cruz told SunStar Philippines.
“We hope Christmas 2025 would have no military operations, bombings, abductions, extrajudicial killings, and other awful events. Soldiers and rebels should be able to celebrate this happy season with ceasefire declarations that combatants would all respect,” Cruz added.
The communist rebel group, which has waged a Maoist-inspired guerrilla war since the late 1960s, is now estimated to number 780, as more than 5,000 rebels have already sought amnesty, NTF-Elcac said earlier this month.
The Philippines’ insurgency problem, dubbed the longest-running insurgency in the world, has reportedly claimed the lives of at least 40,000 people.
The NPA has been designated a terrorist group by the Philippine government, the United States, the European Union, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada. (Ronald O. Reyes/SunStar Philippines)