After declaring Reds ‘terrorists,’ Duterte open again to talks

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Friday, Dec. 8, said his labor secretary, Silvestre H. Bello III, may revive peace talks with communist rebels “at some other time,” provided that their armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), will stop imposing revolutionary taxes.

He expressed anew this openness towards reviving the talks, three days after issuing Proclamation No. 374, which officially brands the rebels as terrorists, and two weeks after Proclamation 360 which formally ended the government’s peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

Speaking at the 84th anniversary of the Department of Labor and Employment in Malolos, Bulacan, Mr. Duterte said insurgency will not end without the peace talks, but the rebels “have to agree to stop…impos(ing) revolutionary tax.”

He added: “Ako na ang mag-gastos but you have to stop. Kasi ang problema, ang mga negosyante o ‘yang mga sundalo, they cannot just, you know, sabihin sa ‘kin, ‘Mayor, ‘wag mo kaming pigilan diyan kasi eh inuubos na kami.” (I’ll just be the one to spend but you have to stop. Because the problem is, the businessmen, the soldiers, they cannot just, you know, they’ll tell me, Mayor, don’t stop us because we’re being finished.)

“So I have to stop the talks with the NPAs. Bebot (Mr. Bello) and company can always resuscitate it at some other time. ‘Yan lang ang requirement ng Pilipino (That’s the only requirement of the Filipino),” Mr. Duterte also said.

The president said that if there is an open rebellion in Mindanao, the ISIS can enter the country.

For his part, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Maj. Gen. Restituto F. Padilla Jr. laid the blame on the failure of the talks squarely on the insurgents — whom he also accused of exploiting the talks to step up their attacks and even recruiting the indigenous peoples (IPs) to their side.

In his press briefing at Malacañang on Friday, Mr. Padilla Jr. cited the combined threat of the NPA as well as the various terrorist groups in Mindanao’s western area in explaining the AFP’s recommendation to extend martial law in this southernmost region of the country.

Martial law’s enforcement until Dec. 31 will need congressional approval anew for a second extension, if sought by President R. Duterte upon the recommendation of both the AFP and the Philippine National Police.

“(I)ncreasing violence initiated by the Left is something to watch out for and something that we have to prepare for and confront. That’s part of the reason why martial law may be needed to cover other areas where potential terrorists are in hiding,” Mr. Padilla said in the briefing, transcripts of which the Palace sent to the media.

He cited the considerable rise in “violent incidents perpetrated by the NPA,” attributing to the group “a total of 617 incidents for the whole of the year(,) 382 of them…committed in the Eastern Mindanao Command area and 18 in the Western Mindanao Command area.”

“The Left themselves did not want to pursue the ceasefire and just wanted to fight than talk,” Mr. Padilla said, adding that “it was during that period (of the peace negotiations) when many of the violent incidents reached its height.”

He also accused the communists of exploiting the IPs.

“So, sa bawat apat na armadong miyembro ng NPA, tatlo dun lumad. ‘Yan ay batay sa aming pag-aaral,” Mr. Padilla said. (So, for every four armed members of the NPA, three of them are [from the] lumad [indigenous peoples]. This is based on our observations.)

He added: “Ang rason kaya ‘yang bilang na ‘yan ay nakikita natin ay dahil mas mainam nilang nare-recruit ang mga katutubo natin dahil mas madali nilang lokohin.” (The erason why we’ve come to that figure is because it’s better for them to recruit our natives because it’s easier for them [the NPAs] to fool.)

“Karamihan sa ating katutubo, maaaring hindi masyadong mataas ang kanilang pinag-aralan at nasa kabundukan sila at malayo sila sa kabihasnan kaya hindi sila masyadong sanay sa mga galaw na maaaring ginagawa nitong mga Kaliwa.” (Many of our natives perhaps have not gone that high in their education, and they’re in the mountains and far from civilization, that’s why they’re not accustomed to the movements probably being made by the Left.)

“Kaya mas mainam nilang nare-recruit itong mga vulnerable na katutubo natin. (So it’s better for them to recruit these vulnerable natives of ours.) So that is what we have in the statistics now.”

“They will try to entice, they will make our indigenous peoples in the mountain go down to the city centers as evacuees and confront local governments and national governments and give demands, which they have been doing ever since.”

Mr. Padilla also emphasized that an encounter in Batangas province late last month between government forces and NPAs, which led to 15 of the latter killed, including a number of activist youths, “is a legitimate military operation.”

“Now, all the incidents that we have had by far with the NPA have been legitimate and deliberate military operations that have targeted known members of the NPA,” he said.

“And if the CHR (Commission on Human Rights) wishes to investigate, yes, by all means, please do so. So that the truth will come out,” he added. — with Minde Nyl R. Dela Cruz