Manila: Citing the supposed government failure to abide by provisions of a bilateral truce agreement, the communist insurgents announced that they would be cutting short their 27-day suspension of operations.

“Philippine President (Benigno) Aquino III’s failure to comply with the agreement made by Special Representatives of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on December 18, 2012 at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in The Hague is most regrettable. Both sides had agreed on a ceasefire from December 20, 2012 until January 15, 2013,” the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said in a statement.

The CPP and the NDFP are nearly one and the same.

The CPP said: “Without the corresponding GPH declaration of ceasefire until January 15, 2013, the NDFP Negotiating Panel can only recommend a ceasefire until January 2, 2013, the end date announced by the GPH in its declaration of suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO).”

While providing an opportunity for combatants from both sides to mark Christmas and New Year together with their families, the truce likewise was intended to provide a chance for negotiators to work out long term peace mechanisms.

In response to communist insurgents’ move to scuttle the truce, the presidential palace said it remains committed to the ceasefire agreement.

“We remain committed to pursuing peace in all fronts. We have seen that. We have proven our sincerity with the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front). We are prepared to seek peace with CPP-NDF,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Wednesday.

The CPP, in a separate statement, had accused the Aquino government of “continuing resort to deception, statistical distortion and half-truths, media spins, manipulated surveys and publicity gimmicks cannot conceal the worsening conditions of the Filipino people or placate their seething discontent over Aquino’s failure to deliver on promises of change in the people’s lives.”

“After close to three years, the Aquino regime has miserably failed to address the problems of unemployment, landlessness, homelessness, low wages, spiralling prices, hunger and poverty, disease and epidemics,” added the CPP.

Earlier, the government has boasted that its peace negotiators had been able to secure what is considered as the “longest” bilateral truce agreement with the CPP/NDF and their armed wing, the New Peoples’ Army (NPA).

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles had announced then that GPH and NDF negotiators had agreed to a 27-day truce under a “special track”.

Government negotiators at that time refused to give in to the demand by the rebels to release some of its officials.

“The GPH (Government of the Philippines) reiterated that this (prisoner release) is not a proper subject of the Special Track which should not be burdened by any preconditions as earlier agreed by the Parties,” government chief negotiator with the NDF, Alexander Padilla said.

The CPP-NPA-NDF had been fighting to establish economic democracy by overhauling the country’s political-social set up over most of the Philippines for 44 years.