Manila: Talks between government and communist insurgents will continue despite recent attacks by rebels on security forces, a top official has said.
Secretary Jesus Dureza, peace adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte, said talks for a negotiated end to the 48 year-old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-led insurgency will proceed despite recent attacks carried out by the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) in various parts of the country.
“We will not be deterred,” Dureza said in a statement issued Wednesday.
On Saturday, NPA rebels in Mandella, Quirino province in northeast Philippines carried out an attack at a police station where one of their jailed comrades is being held. Similar assaults in various locations in Eastern and Central Mindanao led to the destruction of structures in plantations and farm buildings in North Cotabato, Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte. An improvised explosive device placed at a roadside by the rebels on the same day of the attack injured a passing fish monger riding in a motorcycle.
Dureza said that government is aware about the need to put a stop to the rebel attacks. However its hands are apparently tied by the fact that it needs to continue negotiating with the insurgents.
“We are dismayed that although peace negotiations with the CPP/NPA/NDF are now making some substantial headway, their forces still continue to wage attacks that victimise civilians and inflict damage on the civilian sector,” he said.
The NDF is the Utrecht, Netherlands-headquartered negotiating arm of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
“On the other hand, we who are tasked to seek a peaceful and principled settlement must pursue, with more vigour, these peace engagements with the communist rebels. Our expectation is that our unrelenting efforts in addressing the issues, bridging the ideological divide and finding a common ground may eventually pay off and bring about just, sustainable and enduring peace in the land,” he said.
On May 27 to June 1, peace negotiators led by Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III will be sitting with NDF representatives in Netherlands for the 5th round of formal peace talks with the insurgents under the 10-month old Duterte administration.
When he assumed authority as the country’s 16th President in June, the President said resumption of peace negotiations with the communist rebel movement will be among his priorities.
“President Duterte’s aspiration is to end this tragedy of Filipinos fighting Filipinos. While he boldly deals with those who bring harm to the people, his dream is to bring peace through a just and principled settlement with all rebel groups in the land. Let us all close ranks and stay the course with him,” Dureza said.
A self-confessed “socialist,” no other President in the country’s history has given up much concessions to the communists. Duterte had appointed known left-wing activists to the labour, land reform and social welfare Cabinet positions.