Reds reject gov’t offer of ‘interim’ ceasefire

TARLAC — The underground Maoist rebel movement has rejected the government’s offer of an "interim" ceasefire intended to jump-start the stalled peace talks.

Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, senior spokesman for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said Malacañang’s proposal "is meant to force the capitulation and surrender of the revolutionary forces."

But Prof. Carlos Medina Jr., co-chairman for the government in the joint committee tasked to monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), said the Arroyo administration was not asking for a "permanent ceasefire" from the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political umbrella of the CPP.

Medina was in Camp Gen. Sevillano Aquino, headquarters of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to brief military and police officials on the government’s new thrust in its peace negotiations with the rebels.

He also briefed the officials on the implementation of the CARHRIHL, the 1998 pact that concluded discussions on the first of the four issues in the agenda of the peace talks.

Medina said the government wanted a "limited or modified ceasefire" to create an environment conducive to the resumption of the talks.

He pointed to the ceasefire signed between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as a precedent for a possible truce with the NDF.

The truce was first proposed by newly-designated chief government negotiator and former Labor secretary Nieves Confesor.

But the NDF, through international information chief Ruth de Leon, turned down the proposal.

Rosal said pronouncements by President Arroyo, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles "contradict" statements made by the government panel on the nature of the truce.

"They have been consistent in implying that the proposed ceasefire will be permanent, which would coerce the revolutionary movement to surrender," he said.

Rosal said the truce would be "no different" from earlier suggestions that the NDF sign a "final peace agreement" with the government.

But Medina said the government proposal for an "interim ceasefire" will retain the principle of "non-capitulation" found in previous agreements with the NDF.

The arrangement, he said, is intended to lessen fighting between government and rebel forces during the peace talks.

Four issues are listed in the agenda of the talks with the NDF: respect by both state and rebel forces for human rights and international war statutes; social and economic reforms; political and constitutional reforms; and the cessation of hostilities and disposition of the rebel forces.

Medina said the declaration of a ceasefire will somewhat "reverse" the agenda of the talks.

Lawyer Silvestre Bello headed the government panel until he and his team were replaced by Mrs. Arroyo last February.

Medina said Mrs. Arroyo reorganized the panel to speed up and gain "fresh insights" into the talks.

Medina clarified that Bello’s allegiance to the government was never "in doubt," even if some quarters in Malacañang believed Bello "became too close" with rebel leaders like CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison and NDF panel head Luis Jalandoni.

"The government has the discretion to choose who should compose its own peace panel," he said, adding: "What if the government rejects the NDF panel’s composition?"

Medina said the Confesor panel had already formulated "new strategies" and was "hoping for a breakthrough in the talks."

Confesor, he said, will try to meet with rebel leaders based in Europe to convince them to return to the negotiating table.

The NDF withdrew from the peace talks last August to protest the US government’s decision to keep the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), on its list of "foreign terrorist organizations."

The rebel negotiators wanted Mrs. Arroyo to appeal the decision and to solicit the support of the international community for the talks.

But Washington recently reaffirmed its decision to keep the communist movement, which has been waging a 36-year-long war against the Philippine government, on its international terrorist watch list.