COMMUNIST leaders in Utrecht said Friday they would recommend to their cadres to reconsider their order to intensify attacks on government troopers as a way of opposing martial law.
Seeking to ease tensions on the eve of their fifth round of formal peace talks that will start on Saturday (May 27), Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison said both the left and the Duterte administration must unite at this time against a common enemy.
“The NDFP Negotiating Panel has recommended to the National Executive Committee of the NDFP and in effect the Central Committee of the CPP to reconsider the order to the NPA to intensify tactical offensives as response to the Lorenzana statement that the NPA is a target of martial law,” Sison said.
“The terrorist act by the Maute group should not be an obstacle to the fifth round of formal talks but should be an incentive to the GRP and NDFP to meet and agree to fight groups that are terrorist because they target, terrorize and harm civilians, solely or mainly,” he added.
Sison said the government side has since “clarified that the NPA is not a target” of martial law.
“In fact, President Duterte himself told Fidel Agcaoili in their recent meeting that the GRP and NDFP should unite against terrorist groups like the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf,” Sison said.
The CPP had earlier urged its armed wing, the New People’s Army to carry out more tactical offensives across the country following President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law on May 23.
This triggered outrage from government chief negotiator and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who said in a statement Thursday they were disturbed by the CPP’s pronouncement that was based on “a false reading of the intents of President Duterte in placing Mindanao under martial law.”
Sison said that the NDFP are together with the government in opposing and fighting the ISIS-affiliated groups like the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf.
“We in the NDFP condemn the attack by Maute group on Marawi City,” he said.
Sison, however, scored Lorenzana, who allegedly said that the NPA is one of the targets of Duterte’s Mindanao-wide martial law order.
Despite Sison’s recent statements, the National Democratic Front on Friday urged all Filipinos to unite, rise and protest against martial law in Mindanao.
Joaquin Jacinto, NDFP-Mindanao spokesperson, condemned the imposition of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.
“We urgently call upon all Filipinos in Mindanao and the rest of the country to unite and rise in militant protest to oppose this draconian edict and push for its immediate lifting,” he said in a statement. With Rio N. Araja