He appointed six personalities identified with the Left to his Cabinet and immediately ordered a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA a week after he assumed the presidency.

YOUNG and determined, new female recruits of the New People’s Army are taught the rudiments of war. AFP

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spends at least P3.4 million to arrest one high-profile member or commander of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), inclusive of cost for casing and case buildup.

And for this, the military leadership supported President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to cut his ties with the Left after the Maoist group demanded the release of 600 communist prisoners in exchange for its cooperation.

Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations and spokesman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), said the demand was just too much, citing the “insincerity of the CPP-NPA-NDF (National Democratic Front)” that kept the military leadership adamant against the so-called offer of cooperation.

But Parlade said the Commander-in-Chief showed government’s commitment to the peace negotiations, citing Duterte’s order to immediately release of 22 communist consultants, led by the couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, chairman and secretary general of the CPP-Central Committee, respectively, and NPA top commander Tirso Alcantara, alias Ka Bart.

But he said the CPP-NPA tried to up the ante and demanded the release of 600 more arrested members, whom the communist leadership named as consultants.

“They requested for another 600 political prisoners to be released. Six hundred! Can you imagine? Multiply that by P3.4 million, the average spent to arrest one high-profile (CPP-NPA) personality,” Parlade disclosed to the Daily Tribune.

“That’s what we’re losing. So finally, the government made the position and decided to stop the peace talks,” he added.

Parlade explained that P3.4 million was the cost of surveillance leading to the arrest of a high-profile CPP-NPA personality.

“That’s just an average and is very conservative. It only covers the expenses of surveillance and its support system,” he said.

“What’s not included is the expenses incurred to secure witnesses, intelligence assets and other incidental expenses,” he added.

Mr. Duterte was earlier clearly determined to strike a peace deal with the CPP-NPA.

To prove his sincerity, he appointed six personalities identified with the Left to his Cabinet and immediately ordered a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA a week after he assumed the presidency.

Mr. Duterte only demanded the stoppage of NPA atrocities — including the ambush of government troops, extortion and attacks against private companies, and that Red fighters would remain within their identified bases.

However, the CPP-NPA continued to conduct ambuscades and burn government and private equipment, which prompted the President to suspend the peace talks in February 2017.

“They could not even adhere to the simple request of the President,” Parlade lamented.

Last March, the President officially terminated the peace negotiations.

The demand to release the 600 so-called political prisoners was included in the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio Economic Reform (CASER), the framework agreement pushed during the negotiations.

Under CASER, Parlade stressed that there was no “demobilization” clause on the part of the CPP-NPA unlike in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which paved the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao early this year.

Under the CAB, the MILF was mandated to demobilize. Some 12,000 Moro fighters will be decommissioned this year.

“Under CASER, there is no demobilization. They will not disband the NPA like what the MILF did. What was included there, in Article 7, is that the NPA will continue to exist because (it) will be the one to execute government programs,” the official said.