DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Communist Party of the Philippines is calling all Filipinos to join in their “peace rallies” across the country to demonstrate the people’s unity for a “just and lasting peace,” coinciding the Party’s 48th anniversary.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the CPP denounced President Rodrigo Duterte “unfulfilled peace vows” because he failed “to release political prisoners, a promise he has made twice.”
The communist group also condemned the continued “deployment of combat troops in rural communities despite having ordered a ceasefire, resulting in rampant military abuses against the peasant masses.”
According to CPP, the national assembly will be held in a guerrilla zone somewhere in Davao City. Likewise, simultaneous mass demonstrations will also be held across the country.
“The Party urges all sectors of society desirous of a just and lasting peace to join and support these demonstrations. Organize peace marches and caravans to press the Duterte regime to fulfill its peace vows and comply with agreements, particularly, the demand to free all political prisoners and to terminate or suspend Oplan Bayanihan operations,” the statement said.
The communists also invited some select representatives of the Duterte administration “in order to hear for themselves the people’s outcries for peace.”
“Duterte has capriciously changed his mind and has declared that no political prisoner will be released until a bilateral ceasefire agreement is signed,” the CPP said.
The party also slammed Duterte’s anti-people and undemocratic polices.
“The starkest among these is the growing number of extrajudicial killings instigated by Duterte and perpetrated by police forces and by an apparent network of death squads,” the CPP said. (davaotoday.com)
