THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) opposes the resumption of the failed peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democractic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
In a statement, DILG officer-in-charge Bernardo Florece Jr. said the department is in favor of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC)’s position against any talks with the Reds.
“We believe that any back channel efforts to resume talks with the Communist Terrorist Groups is an exercise in futility as the leadership of the CPP-NPA-NDF has never showed sincerity and they have proven, time and again, that they are against peace,” Florece said.
The President has already shut the door on any form of negotiations through Proclamation 360 which declared the termination of peace talks with them.
Moreover, the President issued Proclamation 374 which declared the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization pursuant to Republic Act 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
According to Florece, the duplicitous nature of the communist terrorists has long been unmasked as they pretend to be treading the path of peace while continuing to ambush our soldiers and cops, abuse indigenous peoples, and poison the minds of our youth to entice them into joining their cause and take up arms against the government.
“It is very clear that peace talks for the CPP-NPA-NDF is not for the purpose of achieving peace but to get concessions from government without giving anything in return.” part of the statement reads.
As clearly stated by NDF leader Luis Jalandoni himself, peace talks to them “are another form of legal struggle, which is possible to be used by the revolutionary forces in order to advance the revolutionary armed struggle and the revolutionary mass movement.”
Clearly, the CPP-NPA-NDF’s singular purpose of calling for peace talks again is to advance their armed struggle through other means and draw away government forces who are decimating their guerilla fronts.
The local government units (LGUs), which the DILG represents, have aired disgust with the Communist Terrorist Groups.
In fact, as of December 12, 2020, a total of 1,311 provinces, cities and municipalities have declared them as persona non grata in their respective localities. This is aside from the 25,520 barangays that have also issued resolutions declaring that the CPP-NPA-NDF are not welcome in their communities.
