Manila: The National Democratic Front (NDF), negotiator of the 48-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), will terminate on February 10 the unilateral ceasefire it declared in August 2016, because of military encroachment on “red zones” and President Rodrigo Duterte’s failure to release 400 leftist political prisoners, a spokesman said.

NPA commands “should counteract, frustrate and punish” pro-government’s military, paramilitary, and police forces that have encroached on 500 villages within red zones in 164 municipalities and 43 provinces, Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos said in a statement sent to reporters, adding the notice of termination was sent to the Philippine government’s negotiating panel on Wednesday.

The NDF declared its unilateral ceasefire on August 28 (after talks were held in Norway) “on the mutual understanding with government negotiators that political prisoners will be released within 60 days,” recalled Madlos, adding the NDF has stretched its unilateral ceasefire to more than 150 days after government negotiators asked (at the end of October) for extension with a promise to release 200 more political prisoners.

The Philippine government must give amnesty and release all 400 political prisoners — it is a provision of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees that both negotiators signed in 1998 and 1995, respectively, Madlos said.

Duterte initially released 22 political prisoners including 18 top leftist leaders who participated in the government-NDF second formal talks in Oslo in October 2016.

Citing another complaint, Madlos said after the Philippine government declared its unilateral ceasefire in August, “government soldiers entered 500 villages — occupied homes, village halls, day care centres and other civilian structures, their hostile actions, provocations, surveillance and other offensive operations such as harassment, human rights violations, intimidation, and threats during campaigns they labelled as anti-drugs, civil-military alliance, law enforcement, medical missions, and development”. He added,

“The soldiers who implemented the military’s ‘Oplan Kapayapaan’ have gravely affected people’s farm productivity, commerce and overall livelihood.”

Despite the end of the CPP-NPA unilateral ceasefire, the NDF supports the continuation of the government-NDF peace negotiations because it is within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration that they signed in 1992, said Madlos.

“It is possible to negotiate while fighting until the substantive agreements are forged to address the roots of the armed conflict and lay the basis for a just and lasting peace,” he argued.

Under the Duterte administration, negotiating panels have agreed to forge a bilateral ceasefire before agreeing on Constitutional, economic, political, and social reforms. In the past, negotiators took the opposite approach.

“We oppose the use of interim ceasefires as basis for a protracted or indefinite ceasefire without substantial benefit for the people and their revolutionary forces and for laying aside peace negotiations on substantive issues such as social, economic and political reforms,“ said Madlos. But government negotiators did not say if this old approach will be taken again.

Eight soldiers and one communist fighter were killed in a clash in Makilala, North Cotabato, southern Philippines, on January 21.

Reaching 26,000 in the 70s, and 5,000 in the 80s, the CPP-NPA has been blamed for deadly assassination of erring police and military men; and collecting taxes from businessmen. The class-based rebellion has claimed 30,000 lives.

After the Philippine government and the NDF began talking in 1992, Congress repealed the anti-subversion law to lure leftist leaders to the negotiating table. Since then, however, leftist political leaders and members were arrested and accused of trumped-up charges and other non-bailable offences, thus, the increasing number of political prisoners.

Despite of thinning members, the CPP-NPA has remained in control of far-flung villages that hardly receive government services.