Lorenzana backs 'localized' peace process with communist rebels
MANILA, Philippines —The government will pursue localized peace processes amid National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Jose Maria Sison's statement that peace talks would be pointless, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
Last week, Sison suggested that the NDFP, the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), should rather participate in efforts to oust President Rodrigo Duterte. Sison has since clarified that the CPP and the New People's Army, which the NDFP represents in talks, have yet to decide on the termination of talks.
In response to Sison's remarks, Lorenzana told the NDFP political consultant that the peace talks are the only thing that keeps him in the limelight.
"Without it you are irrelevant. You also know that the president can terminate the talks, and this is why you are desperately using reverse psychology and intimidation to save it," Lorenzana told Sison.
In a statement released late Sunday night, Lorenzana accused the CPP of using the ceasefire to recover lost ground and influence.
Lorenzana said the CPP and the NPA have crafted a three-year plan to advance the revolutionary movement that includes planning the ouster of Duterte if he will not agree to a coalition agreement.
"Thus, the [CPP-NPA-NDF] is not sincere to talk peace and end the armed conflict as evidenced by their statements and actions. They are employing the revolutionary dual tactics to show semblance of peace but continually conducting violence and terror acts on the ground," Lorenzana said.
The Defense chief added that the government peace panel under the Aquino administration had also recommended the abrogation of peace talks as they believed the communist rebels were not truthful, sincere and honest.
Lorenzana also claimed that majority of indigenous people in Mindanao are not in favor of ceasefire as it increases the presence of NPA members.
"They are classified (CPP-NPA) as a terrorist organization locally and internationally. They could have their chance when [Duterte] offered peace by putting in four Cabinet members then. But what the four secretaries did instead was to take advantage of the government machinery to advance the revolutionary movement," Lorenzana said.
Aside from these, the rebels could not comply to the four preconditions of Duterte to resume the peace negotiations — no arson or attacks, no revolutionary tax or extortion, NPA to stay in safe areas of their choice and no recruitment or mass mobilization.
"Mr. Sison, in response to your threats we will vigorously pursue our ongoing localized peace process instead. I am sure that once you are out of the picture, true peace will have a chance to become a reality and you will be consigned to the dustbin of history," Lorenzano told Sison.
CPP calls Duterte admin 'anti-peace'
Meanwhile, the CPP called out Lorenzana for supposedly defining the Duterte administration's "true anti-peace policy based on his one-track militarist mindset."
"To Lorenzana and his ilk of fascists, including Duterte himself, the only solution to the civil war in the country is the military solution," the CPP said in a statement.
The CPP accused Lorenzana of being a "big US military sales agent" in the Philippines, citing how he rejected 5,000 rifles from China for military useand then sent the guns to the police.
"Lorenzana is a war promoter and consummate militarist. He wants no non-military end to the civil war in the Philippines," the CPP said.
"He is the zealous US sentry that ensures that the AFP will always remain as the key pillar of US hegemonism in the Philippines," it added.
The CPP had already said "localized" peace talks will not work when these were proposed in 2017. It said then that the proposal for separate talks with regional CPP and NPA units showed a "very shallow appreciation of the profound social problems which are at the root of the raging civil war in the Philippines."
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