AFP chief recommends indefinite ceasefire with NPA

MANILA, Philippines – Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Alexander Yano proposed yesterday an indefinite ceasefire with the communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas as an initial step towards the resumption of formal peace negotiations between the government and the rebels.

Yano said the two negotiating panels could not resume peace talks if their armed elements are fighting and it is necessary to declare an indefinite ceasefire, similar to the truce between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The military’s proposed cessation of hostilities was made even as NPA rebels continue their attacks on government targets and private establishments nationwide.

Yano said that the response of the NPA to the offer of an indefinite ceasefire would gauge the sincerity of the rebels in pursuing a peace agreement.

He said if the rebels are sincere in resuming peace talks, the NPA would accept the truce to lay the groundwork for the peace process, which was stalled after the Communist Party of the Philippines pulled out from the talks in 2004 when the NPA was listed by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.

“Even a longer ceasefire, indefinite cessation of hostilities as what we have done with the MILF, the longer the better, as long we are talking, having our peace negotiations, definitely that ceasefire will have to take effect,” Yano said.

He said stopping hostilities between the military and the rebels would benefit the country and the people.

“That is the stand of the Armed Forces and the government; the longer the ceasefire is, it will be favorable to us, to our country, not just on one side but to the entire country because we have been suffering a lot from the atrocities of the NPA, and our people in the far-flung communities are the ones suffering. So let’s give our countrymen a chance, the Filipino people especially in far-flung areas to at least savor the peace that we want, even if it is temporary,” he said.

Yano said a ceasefire agreement with the NPA, which has been waging a Maoist insurgency for nearly four decades, would hasten the government’s objective to end the rebellion by 2010.

“There are always several means or various approaches to addressing the problem. We may not end it through armed struggle or use of arms; it will even be better if we end the insurgency through other peaceful means. Ending the insurgency does not limit our options to just shooting or combat operations or military operations, it will even be better if we address the problem on or before 2010 without firing a shot,” he said.

Yano’s predecessor, retired Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. who was appointed presidential peace adviser, had called for a three-year truce with the guerrillas when he was still AFP chief.

The rebels had previously rejected a ceasefire offer from the AFP.

The AFP has recently deployed troops backed by armored vehicles to Eastern Mindanao due to heightened activities of the NPA, such as attacks on business firms, as well as police and military installations.

NPA attacks gov’t, private targets

Suspected NPA rebels planted a landmine that killed a barangay councilman and wounded three policemen in Makilala, North Cotabato yesterday morning.

The victims were on their way to investigate the earlier attack of NPA rebels at the pineapple plantation of Dole Philippines Inc. in Barangay Luna Norte in Makilala.

The slain councilman or kagawad was identified as Ricky Apolinario of Barangay San Vicente, Makilala, and one of the wounded policemen was Police Officer 1 Nestor Catalan.

The victims were responding to reports that suspected NPA guerrillas had raided the pineapple farm and burned their palletizing equipment in Barangay Luna Norte.

Maj. Armando Rico, spokesman for the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command, said at least 15 fully armed rebels raided the Dole plantation at around 4 a.m.

Rico said elements of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion were deployed to conduct pursuit operations.

Col. Alex Estomo, commander of the 602nd Infantry Brigade, also ordered the military to set up blocking forces in the area.

In Negros Occidental, 20 NPA rebels burned two bunkhouses and a security outpost of Philex Gold Mining Corp. in Sipalay City last Wednesday morning.

Inspector Arnel Arpon, Sipalay police chief, said the rebels were led by a woman and barged into the Philex compound and disarmed the security guards.

They took a shotgun, a .38 caliber revolver, cellular telephones, and radio handset and base before burning the guard house and the bunkhouse of Philex’s contractor United Paraffin Drillings.

Damage to property was estimated at P1.5 million, according to police reports.

Security guard Noel Binigay said the female rebel commander told them that the NPA had received complaints against the mining company.

He said the rebels were armed with M-16 and M-14 rifles.

Last Tuesday, armed men claiming to be NPA guerrillas killed former militiaman Wilfredo Abendan, also in Sipalay.

Abendan was the third member of his family slain by suspected NPA rebels. – With Antonieta Lopez, Ric Sapnu, Ramil Bajo, John Unson