Noy: NDF ‘insincere’ on restarting peace talks

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino finds insincere the National Democratic Front (NDF) and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)’s moves to restart peace talks with the government, and there may be no Holy Week truce with the rebels.

“On the part of the NDF, there seems to be – how should I say it in the most diplomatic way possible? – I think they should show earnestness on their part that they want peace, and that is not being demonstrated now,” Aquino said.

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines said he has yet to receive the recommendation of the military and the Philippine National Police with regard to the suspension of military operations.

“I assume I’ll be seeing it (recommendation) as soon as you’ll release me and I can go to the office and look at all these papers,” Aquino said.

Noy-Joma meeting unlikely

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said irreconcilable differences between the government and the CPP have made unlikely the proposed meeting of the President and CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison.

He belied insinuations by the NDF that Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas scuttled the supposed meeting.

“That is incorrect. That is just a spin of NDF,” he told a news briefing, noting that Llamas was authorized to discuss the matter with Sison in the Netherlands, but nothing came out of it due to the impossible conditions the CPP had imposed.

“There were certain commitments that they want from us. Those are commitments that were not acceptable to the government,” Lacierda explained, downplaying the commitments Llamas failed to make.

“It’s not true that Ronald was a party spoiler. There were conditions that were not agreed upon. There was no meeting of the minds,” he told Palace reporters.

“So it’s not true that Secretary Llamas was the one who prevented the meeting if there is, at all, a meeting. There was simply no agreement... no meeting of the minds,” Lacierda said.

NDF attributed the failed Aquino-Sison meeting to alleged duplicity of government representatives, after Llamas failed to make true the proposed meeting in Hanoi early this year, as per discussions in the Netherlands last October and November.

This was contained in a lengthy report the NDF made, in relation to the Philippine delegation to a “special track” meeting with government representatives. The report was submitted to the NDF national council.

The proposed meeting was supposed to be reminiscent of the one between Aquino and Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo, Japan in August 2012 that speeded up negotiations with the Moro rebels.

According to the CPP/NDF, this was supposed to “stimulate the forging of a general or common declaration for effecting truce and cooperation” between the government and the NDFP.

NDF chairman Luis Jalandoni said the idea collapsed because of two issues - the government’s continued failure to release detained CPP consultants and its alleged “maneuver to trap the NDF into indefinite (simultaneous and unilateral) ceasefire.”

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista said the military would not declare a ceasefire with communist rebels during Holy Week but hopes the insurgents will not take advantage of the holiday.

He said the truce is usually declared only during the Christmas season.

“Traditionally, we declare a ceasefire during Christmas. There is none (Holy Week truce),” Bautista said.

When asked whether the offensives would continue this week, Bautista said: “Our soldiers will also pray.”

Bautista hopes the communist rebels would also reflect during Holy Week, even as the military has stepped up security measures to ensure a peaceful and solemn commemoration.

Armed Forces deputy chief for operations Brig. Gen. Aurelio Baladad said the soldiers are ready to provide resources to support the police in their operations. – With Alexis Romero