{"id":249690,"date":"2020-03-24T06:58:33","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T10:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=249690"},"modified":"2020-03-24T06:58:33","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T10:58:33","slug":"palace-welcomes-cpps-ceasefire-amid-fight-vs-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/24\/palace-welcomes-cpps-ceasefire-amid-fight-vs-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace welcomes CPP\u2019s ceasefire amid fight vs. Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Sison\u2019s decision to respond to the call of the United Nations (UN) for an immediate global ceasefire is \u201ca positive development.\u201d (File photo:<\/a> Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday welcomed the recommendation of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison to observe its own unilateral ceasefire amid the global fight against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Sison\u2019s decision to respond to the call of the United Nations (UN) for an immediate global ceasefire is \u201ca positive development.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about time they join the collective efforts of the nation to fight the spread of the coronavirus,\u201d he said in a message to reporters.<\/p>\n

In view of the state of calamity and public health emergency, Panelo said Filipinos deserved a safe and peaceful environment where movement of health workers, medical supplies, food and other needs are unimpeded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe therefore welcome the cooperation of all, including those in the Left, to realize our goal of absolute peace during these times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He expressed hope that Sison and communist rebels would \u201cmake good\u201d and \u201cstay true to their words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Sison proposes concord to be realized during this global health crisis, it is also our hope that their group\u2019s armed component on the ground would show genuine sincerity in laying down their arms and not use the occasion to mobilize their forces,\u201d he said, referring to CPP\u2019s armed wing New People\u2019s Army (NPA).<\/p>\n

Sison initially refused to reciprocate the ceasefire declared by President Rodrigo Duterte from March 19 to April 15, calling it \u201cpremature, insincere, and false\u201d and \u201cno clear basis yet to reciprocate\u201d Duterte\u2019s unilateral ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier accused the NPA of instigating violence after killing of two civilians\u2014Manobo tribal leader Datu Bernardino Austidillo and former rebel Zaldy Ibanez\u2014in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur, on the first day the government\u2019s unilateral ceasefire took effect on March 19.<\/p>\n

On the same night, armed men believed to be members of the CPP-NPA\u2019s Leonardo Panaligan Command (LPC) attacked a Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafrgu) patrol base in Brgy. Sandayao, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. No casualties were recorded during the firefight.<\/p>\n

Sison changed his mind after UN Secretary General Antonio Guerres, in a speech at the UN headquarters in New York, called for a global truce to \u201cfocus on the true fight of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am advising the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to recommend to its principal, the NDFP National Council, the issuance of a unilateral ceasefire declaration by the CPP to the New People\u2019s Army (NPA) in order to respond to the call of UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres for a global ceasefire between warring parties for the common purpose of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic,\u201d Sison said.<\/p>\n

Sison said there is a need to refrain from launching tactical offenses to gain time and opportunity to look after people\u2019s health and welfare.<\/p>\n

However, he noted that even with the unilateral ceasefire in place, the NPA must be vigilant to defend themselves against attacks by government forces.<\/p>\n

On March 18, Duterte declared a unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels to ensure the effective implementation of a Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine from March 17 to April 12 to contain the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, health authorities reported a total of 501 confirmed Covid-19 cases with 33 fatalities in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday welcomed the recommendation of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison to observe …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":207213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249691,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249690\/revisions\/249691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}