Soldiers from the 54th Infantry Battalion (IB), likely augmented by other units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), are reportedly intensifying rather than ceasing military operations in the north.
President Rodrigo Duterte has restored the effects of unilateral ceasefire with the CPP, NPA and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
“This ceasefire declaration is encouraged by the GRP’s facilitation of the release of nearly all NDFP consultants who are set to participate in peace negotiations in the course of the next several months.”
Against fantasies of demobilization and capitulation, the Peace Talks must be viewed for its real purpose. It is a venue for human rights and international humanitarian law to be revisited on account of the horrifying violations of the rules of war committed especially by government troops against guerrillas and civilians.
MANILA – The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said that the lifting of unilateral ceasefire would not affect the scheduled peace talks on Aug. 20-27 in Oslo. The CPP, however, advised President Rodrigo Duterte to “exercise a little more prudence and display more measured temperament as a way of appreciating the situation from a…
Duterte’s lifting of unilateral ceasefire came an hour before the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Central Committee would have issued its own declaration of reciprocal ceasefire.
“In twisting the facts presented to their commander-in-chief, the AFP is leaving out the glaring truth that the its troops were clearly on combat operation and not engaged in ‘civilian’ activities, in direct violation to GRP Pres. Duterte’s ceasefire order.”
“It is one step, but government should also pull out soldiers, hold human rights violators accountable, and allow evacuees to go home and reestablish their livelihood, schools and communities.”
Jalandoni further said he assumed that GRP ceasefire declaration is necessarily connected with the release of all current political prisoners under the amnesty proclamation to be issued by the President Duterte and concurred in by a majority of Congress, as referred to by the Oslo Joint Statement of June 15, 2016.
Davao City mayor asks the state army and police “to always respect those who fight for their principles.”
Government peace panel head Nieves Confesor said on Friday, December 5, that the Arroyo government is now ready to resume peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). She also said that both panels agreed to a ceasefire as a “good will and confidence-building measure”. But Confesor’s seeming optimism is not being shared by the NDFP. The NDFP released two press statements, December 4 and 6, saying that the informal talks actually hit a snag over the issue of ceasefire with the government trying to convert the talks into surrender negotiations.