AFP sees chance for localized surrender talks after Joma Sison’s death
MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines said Monday that it sees an opportunity to reach out to local units of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, to encourage them to surrender to the government following the death of their founding chairperson, Jose Maria Sison.
"The lack of Joma is actually an opportunity for us, for all of us in the government to reach out to local leaders of the CPP-NPA," Col. Medel Aguilar, military spokesperson, told ABS-CBN News Channel’s "Rundown."
The CPP has said that holding the localized talks will not address the root causes of the decades-long insurgency and has stood firm that any talks would be through the National Democratic Fronf of the Philippines.
Sison died aged 83 on December 16 after a two-week confinement in the hospital, according to the CPP. He died in the Netherlands where he was in exile since the late 1980s.
In its statement confirming Sison’s passing, the CPP vowed "to continue to give all our strength and determination to carry the revolution forward guided by the memory and teachings of the people's beloved Ka Joma."
Succeeding statements from the communist rebels said the CPP leadership called on its cadres to mount offensives while mourning Sison.
However, Aguilar said no such attacks occurred from the day of Sison’s death up to Monday when the CPP marks its 54th anniversary.
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‘Leadership vacuum’
"What is evident right now is there is a breakdown of communication from the national leadership down to the subordinate organs of the CPP, at least giving them the opportunity to surrender because there is no longer that strong restraint on the part of the CPP to hold them," he said.
In addition to Sison’s death, Aguilar said the government can also take advantage of the "long silence" of Benito Tiamzon, who is believed to be the CPP’s chairperson, which he added has left a "vacuum" in the leadership of the communist rebels.
"That’s what we’d like to take advantage of because this is an opportunity for us in government to reach out to their subordinate leaders so we can engage them in localized peace talks," Aguilar said.
It is speculated that Tiamzon and his wife Wilma, who is believed to be the CPP’s secretary-general, were killed in a boat explosion off Samar’s coast during an AFP operation on August 22 — a theory that has neither been confirmed by the military or the rebels.
The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, however, said the Tiamzons were indeed killed in August in an encounter with Joint Task Force Storm, as reported by the Daily Tribune.
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Setbacks
"We have seen the significant reduction in their capabilities. Of course, we have neutralized many of their leaders," Aguilar said, while not confirming the deaths of the Tiamzons.
Aguilar said that currently, there the NPA has only 23 existing guerilla fronts, of which only five are supposedly active. This has been challenged by the CPP, which called the AFP’s claim "ludicrous."
In a message for its 54th anniversary, the CPP’s Central Committee said the declarations of "strategic victory" against the CPP-NPA is a "public relations" line to justify "five years of squandering hundreds of billions of pesos of people’s money to fund its relentless military offensives and rampant military abuses."
The committee also described the Philippines as being "on top of a social volcano that is constantly rumbling and ready to explode” which it said are favorable conditions for revolution.
It acknowledged, however, that the revolutionary movement has suffered setbacks and losses "in some parts," and that these are mainly caused by "internal weaknesses and errors."
But Aguilar said that it would be difficult for the CPP to recoup their losses.
"The elements that would make their rectification now are no longer there for their party to be able to resurrect or rebound from their setbacks," he said.
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