Communist rebels remain firm in rejecting localized peace talks

Communist rebels remained firm with their decision to turn down the government’s proposal for localized peace talks, stressing that this move is aimed to ‘isolate’ Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) from revolutionaries.

In a statement on Monday, July 16, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said, “Localized peace talks are also a vain attempt to isolate NDFP chief political consultant Jose Ma. Sison from the mass of revolutionaries, because of the crucial role he plays in the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines)-NDFP peace negotiations.”

“It could hardly be a coincidence that the latest vilification try against Professor Sison (from rabid anti-communist Rigoberto Tiglao) has come on the eve of the (President Rodrigo) Duterte regime’s issuance of its guidelines on the localized talks,” it continued.

The NDFP described the said proposal as Duterte administration’s “classic divide-and-rule” tactic, believing that the idea of it is to ‘hoodwink’ local leaders of the CPP and its armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA) to agree to local ceasefire arrangements and then persuade them to surrender.

The political arm of the CPP also hit back at Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and other militarists in the Duterte administration, saying that they are ‘delusional’ if they think that the proposed peace negotiations by the government could be the “key to defeating the armed revolutionary.”

The CPP, through Sison, earlier said it would not engage in the peace talks with the government as the latter only “pretends to want peace while actually waging total war against the people.”

It added that the said negotiations would only waste the people’s money.

Reacting to this, Lorenzana, on Sunday, said Sison’s rants against the government’s proposal are nothing but a noisy distraction.

“Did he think that the government would stop just because the ‘mighty’ Sison rejects it? Fat chance Mr. Sison. Do you really think that you still hold sway over events here in the Philippines? Dream on Mr. Sison,” the Defense chief stressed.

He further told the CPP founder that the “real waste of money” was the money being extorted by Sison and his cohorts from his so-called “revolutionary taxation scheme” to maintain his luxurious lifestyle in the Netherlands.