COMMUNIST rebels on Monday claimed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines killed three of its own soldiers in Bukidnon to pin the blame on the New People’s Army and to provoke President Rodrigo Duterte into cancelling peace talks.
“It could be a rubout from the AFP to pin the blame on the NPA,” said Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front [NDF]. “It could be possible that the military themselves killed the soldiers [to railroad the peace talks] … Because the NPA doesn’t have this policy to waste bullets in a single encounter,” Jalandoni told GMA-7 in a TV interview from Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Three soldiers were killed by a group of armed men believed to be NPA rebels in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon Wednesday last week, with soldiers sustaining 76 gunshot wounds among them.
The military dismissed the NDF suggestion.
“That’s a big lie,” said Col. Edgard Arevalo, AFP Public Information Office chief in a TV interview.
“It’s never [the practice] of the military to kill its own soldiers,” he said.
Jalandoni rejected Duterte’s pronouncement that the CCP-NPA-NDF was a terrorist group, saying they have been working with the government to achieve peace.
Jalandoni said this might have been an “emotional reaction” from the President following the soldiers’ deaths.
“We reject [President Duterte’s] statements agains the NPA, because he himself cooperated for more than 30 years with revolutionary forces in Mindanao,” he added.
Jalandoni also said the NDF is in full control of its armed wing amid doubts raised by Malacañang over the apparent disconnect between the communist negotiators and their ground forces.
“We are sure,” Jalandoni said. “Those who know the situation in the Philippines know that the CPP-NPA-NDF and the negotiating panel are united.”
“If there are intrigues, these are coming from the military because they don’t want to have peace talks,” he added.
A leftist lawmaker on Monday expressed hope that the President would reconsider his decision to scuttle peace talks with the communists.
Bayan Muna Rep.Carlos Isagani Zarate, vice chairman of the House committee on peace, reconciliation and unity, described Duterte’s decision as “very unfortunate.”
“We hope that the President will reconsider his decision because in less than a year the peace talks have significantly progressed. In the same breath, the peace process should continue even without a ceasefire in place,” Zarate said.
“Considering the advances already made in so short a period these past months in the substantive agenda of the talks, these troubling developments do not augur well in solving the root causes of the armed conflict in our country,” Zarate said. “It will only embolden the militarists in and out of the government to continue a system that impoverished our country and people, as well as spawned widespread violations of human rights.”
Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin, on the other hand, supported the President’s decision.
“We strongly support the President’s decision to withdraw from the negotiations with the NDF. The government, through our President, has already given too much in terms of concessions to the members of the NDF in the hopes of having a fruitful peace talks,” Garbin said.
Garbin said the recent declarations and actions of the communists belie their claim that they are willing to continue with the peace talks.
Surigao del Sur First District Rep. Prospero Pichay and former AFP chief Rodolfo Biazon on Monday appealed to Duterte and the CPP-NPA-NDF to pursue the peace negotiations.
At a media forum at the Manila Hotel, both Pichay and Biazon urged both sides to stop the armed struggle and to pursue peace instead.
“We cannot end the peace process. The only problem is we have to study the structure of the peace process itself. The issue, number one, is who should they talk to? Preconditions should not be imposed before the peace process, before the talks. Whatever concessions that are being sought, whatever changes or reforms are being sought, should be products of the final peace agreement,” said Biazon.
Also, both sides must understand that not all that is being asked by the CPP-NPA-NDF in terms of reforms are within the powers of the President to grant, he added.
Pichay emphasized the importance or pursuing the peace negotiations.
A peace advocacy group also appealed to Duterte to change his mind.
The Kapayapaan Campaign for a Just Peace said a termination or even suspension of the talks would reverse the “positive and substantial” gains achieved in three rounds of talks between the government and the NDF.
Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said if the communists were serious about resuming peace talks, they should surrender those responsible for killing the soldiers in Bukidnon.
While peace is the ultimate goal, he said, parties must go to the negotiating table in good faith.
“Only then can we end this conflict and, finally, build a path toward prosperity for our poor countrymen,” said Aquino.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said the President did the right thing, and said the CCP and NDF needed to coordinate with their armed wing, the NPA.
On Feb. 3, the AFP issued a memo to all unit commanders to lift the suspension of military operations and ordered full combat operations against the NPA. The memo also ordered attached units prone to rebel attack to pull out from their areas to secure military installations. With Sandy Araneta, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Florante S. Solmerin