DAVAO CITY, Philippines—As the slated April peace talks drew near, the Communist Party of the Philippines over the weekend said that it is optimistic that the government and the National Democratic Front would forge an agreement on socio-economic reforms including two other equally essential reforms— political and constitutional.
On Sunday, the CPP said that it considered the “free land distribution” as “the most pressing social justice issue” across the country. It also hopes that the issue would be addressed in the peace negotiations.
“The CPP also anticipates intense discussions and debates on the people’s demand for national industrialization, as well as expansion of public services, versus the insistence of the GRP to pursue the neoliberal policies of liberalization, privatization and deregulation,” it said in a statement.
The communist group openly expressed its rekindled optimism even without the Philippine government’s declaration of unilateral ceasefire. Such move, however, was viewed by the CPP as an abandonment of the government’s commitment as stated in the NDFP-GRP backchannel agreement signed on March 11, this year.
Earlier, the NDFP said that the declaration of unilateral truce from both panels is “to move the talks forward and improve the atmosphere for negotiations after the impasse last February.”
But the Philippine government said that it is more willing to forge a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the communist than to declare a unilateral truce.
In a separate statement Friday, Fidel V. Agcaoili, Chairperson, NDFP negotiating panel, said that it is flexible and open to discuss with its counterpart “what kind of bilateral ceasefire agreement is desired by the GRP in place of the unilateral ceasefire.”
“The NDFP believes it is possible at the soonest time to have a bilateral ceasefire agreement that conforms to the position that simultaneous and reciprocal declarations of unilateral ceasefire can be agreed upon and bound by the Joint Statement at the end of the fourth round of formal talks,” Agcaoili pointed out.
He added, “the NDFP is one with the GRP in desiring to resolve the serious concerns that have been raised in relation to the previous six-month unilateral ceasefires, mindful that addressing these issues is crucial to ensuring that any ceasefire agreement in the future would be more effective.”
Meanwhile, the CPP has called on the public to “rally and protest the extrajudicial killings, aerial bombings, occupation of communities, forcible evacuations, hamletting and other fascist criminal attacks perpetrated by the AFP against the peasant masses.”
The call came after the government refused to issue a unilateral truce. The CPP said that it also anticipates heightened attacks by the AFP against civilians. The communist organization has documented cases of string of abuses perpetrated by the military.
With this, the CPP ordered its armed-wing, the New People’s Army “to punish the perpetrators of these fascist crimes and carry out offensives to disable the AFP from carrying out further attacks and armed suppression against the civilians.”
“The NPA must take full initiative in order to defend the people’s interests, protect their livelihood and the environment against destructive enterprises and ensure that economic ventures comply with policies that uphold the people’s welfare,” the CPP said. (davaotoday.com)
