4 MIN READ

By SHERWIN DE VERA
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The calls for a global ceasefire continue to reverberate as the Coronavirus pandemic ravages people’s lives and national economies.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), on February 27 (Manila Time), passed a resolution calling for a “durable, extensive, and sustained humanitarian pause” in conflict areas. This came days after the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his call for the cessation of hostilities as a humanitarian response to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the announcement of a possible resumption of the peace negotiations between the Manila government and the communist-led armed movement was met with opposition from military-led government bodies. But besides the strong resistance from the military-dominated Duterte cabinet, recent legislation and executive issuances hinder peace efforts from moving forward.

Renewed push for peace

On February 22, Guterres took his renewed appeal for the cessation of armed hostilities globally on Twitter, to give way to a unified action against the COVID-19.

“I renew my call for a global ceasefire to ease the suffering, create space for diplomacy and enable humanitarian access – including for the delivery of #COVID-19 vaccines worldwide,” Guterres said.

He underscored that “when people fight each other in the middle of the pandemic, the only winner is the virus.” Heading his call, the UNSC unanimously passed a resolution calling for the silencing of guns.

Just days before the UN chief made the appeal, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello revealed that back-channel talks are ongoing between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Kodao reported.

According to Bello, President Duterte is keen on reviving the negotiations. The former chief negotiator of the GRP is optimistic that both parties can return to the negotiating table within the last 16 months of the administration.

Responding to an inquiry by Nordis regarding the UN’s appeal, NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison said the revolutionary movement remains open in talking peace.

“The NDFP is inclined to engage in a mutually agreed ceasefire with the GRP if Duterte calls off its all-out war policy and campaign of state terrorism,” he said.

He explained, “the ceasefire agreement can take the form of simultaneous and reciprocal unilateral ceasefires of the GRP and NDFP,” with the Royal Norwegian Government’s envoy facilitating the talks.

However, government bodies headed by former generals immediately scoffed at the prospect of jumpstarting the peace process.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) immediately said that “there will be no resumption of peace talks” with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) under the current administration.

The Department of Interior and Local Government, led by retired Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Eduardo Año, toed the position of the NTF-ELCAC, headed by retired army colonel Allen Capuyan.

Rough road ahead

However, even without the opposition from the DILG and NTF-ELCAC, the road to peace remains hurdled with legal impediments.

“Before there can be any kind of ceasefire, the GRP must declare that it is for the resumption of the peace negotiations and must scrap Proclamations Nos. 360 and 374, Executive Order No. 70 and [the] Anti-Terrorism Act,” Sison said.

In November 2017, President Duterte issued Proclamation 360 terminating the peace talks and Proclamation No. 374 designating the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations under the now-repealed Human Security Act (HSA).

Sison, the NDFP, and peace advocates have repeatedly pointed out that the issuances contradict The Hague Joint Declaration, which sets the ground rules for the negotiations.

Meanwhile, Executive Order 70, which the president signed in December 2018, institutionalized the “whole of nation approach” and created the NTF-ELCAC. The CPP considers the measure as a means to “have the entire national and local bureaucracy” under the command of the military.

The latest addition is the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). On December 9 last year, the Anti-Terrorism Council, a nine-member body created under the law, passed a resolution designating the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.

Legal luminaries and human rights advocates said ATA gave the government powers that run contrary to Constitutional guarantees. Thirty-seven petitions have been filed challenging the law before the Supreme Court, with oral arguments commencing last January.

Besides resolving the legal impediments, Sison also said that Duterte must also fulfill his May 16, 2016 commitment. This includes the “amnesty and release all political prisoners under no terms of surrender, self-incrimination or any other humiliating term.”

“Issues like how much of the budgets for the [Department of National Defense], DILG and intelligence and discretionary funds of the [Office of the President that] went to corruption can be taken up later,” Sison added.

Fighting continues

As peace becomes more elusive for the Filipino people, the government’s counter-insurgency campaign continues. Despite repeated pronouncement of weakening mass support and dwindling number, the NPA persists with its armed struggle in the countryside.

The first reported clash for 2021 happened in Malibcong town in Abra province in the Northern Philippines on January 4. Soldiers from the 24th Infantry Battalion and the 72nd Division Reconnaissance Company fought guerrillas from the Agustin Begnalen Command of the NPA in Barangay Pacqued. Killed in action was 72nd DRC platoon leader 2nd Lieutenant Zaldy Lapis.

On January 22, the NPA’s Alfredo Cezar Command ambushed operating troops under the 71st DRC in Barangay Lamag in Quirino, Ilocos Sur. Private Shame Reyes died in combat. Also wounded in the fight was Pvt. Rafael Masacote. The CPP said the ambush “took place right smack in the middle” of the area where the Armed Forces of the Philippines Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) supposedly destroyed two guerrilla fronts.

CPP said offensives carried out by the NPA in Ilocos and Cordillera in January resulted in 11 killed and five wounded personnel on the government’s side. In retaliation for its losses, the rebels claimed the AFP dropped 39 bombs since the start of 2021 following the clashes.

Government forces launched successive bombing runs from January 5 to 7 in Barangays Buneg of Lacub and Barangays Pacqued and Mataragan of Malibcong in Abra. The AFP again dropped bombs in the forested area between Tubo, Abra, and Besao, Mountain Province, from January 24 to 25.

The latest is the bombing and strafing of pasturelands and farmlands in Brgy. Tamboan in Besao on February 11, despite no encounter between the AFP and NPA being reported. This happened just days after NOLCOM chief Lt. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo B. Burgos, Jr., claimed that communist guerrillas under its area of responsibility are nearing their end after suffering a “series of major tactical losses and debacles” and being “on the brink of irreversible collapse.”

Since his ascension to office, the Duterte government has repeatedly set the deadlines to crush Asia’s longest-running communist rebellion. After failing to meet its target, the president and his generals opted to extend the timetable up to the end of its term. # nordis.net