NDFP withdraws from talks

Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (AFP Photo / Ted Aljibe) / AFP The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) backed out of the peace negotiations with the government yesterday.

NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said in a statement the communist movement would instead now work for President Rodrigo Duterte’s ouster and prepare to resume talks with the next administration.

“Based on the implications drawn from the current impasse, the NDFP can no longer negotiate

with GRP (government of the Republic of the Philippines) that is headed by Duterte,” Sison, also the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, said.

“So long as he heads the GRP, the Filipino people, especially the oppressed and exploited, cannot expect any benefit from negotiating with the Duterte regime,” he added.

The formal resumption of peace talks was targeted on June 28 in Norway, but it was suspended after Mr. Duterte said he needed more time and public consultations before resuming the talks.

A stand down agreement was signed on June 8 and was supposed to take effect on June 21, a week before the opening of formal talks.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also dismissed NDFP claims the recent “misencounter” between soldiers and policemen that resulted in the killing of six cops happened as a result of the military’s refusal to the “stand down” agreement reached by the NDFP and government peace panels.

Lorenzana, instead, blamed “poor coordination” for the accidental encounter.

The defense chief stressed there is no connection between the non-imposition of the “stand down” agreement and the “misencounter.”

“What is the connection? Because everyone will be in the barracks?” asked Lorenzana.

“Accidents in the field happen, especially if coordination is poor. What happened in Samar was just like in Mamasapano — lack of prior coordination,” he added.

Lorenzana was referring to the Jan. 25, 2015 “massacre” of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos in barangays Tukanalipao and Pidsandawan in Mamasapano, Maguindanao by combined elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and private armed groups.

The military claimed the SAF did not make any prior coordination in launching Oplan “Exodus” that targeted Jemaah Islamiyah militant Malaysian Zulkifli bir Hir alias Marwan and his close aides Filipino bomb maker Basit Usman and fellow Malaysian Amin Bacud, alias Jihad.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the SAF only made coordination at the height of the firefight which broke out at around 5 a.m.

On the other hand, then SAF chief Director Getulio Napenas blamed delayed military artillery support which came after more than 10 hours of firefight on the ground. The clashes died down after the military delivered artillery fire at around 5 p.m.

According to Lorenzana, the PNP coordinated with the military in Samar when its troops were already in the area.

“Initial report says the PNP leadership in Samar made the coordination after its troops are already in the area or a little late because by then the misencounter was already happening,” Lorenzana said.

Both the AFP and PNP leaderships acknowledged there was problem with the “level of coordination” made between the Army’s 87th Infantry Battalion (IB) and the 805th Regional Mobile Company in their separate operations in Sta. Rita, Samar on Monday.

On Wednesday, NDFP peace consultant Rey Casambre linked the “misencounter” to the military’s refusal to implement the “stand down” agreement between the NDFP and the government peace panels.

“Will the investigations reveal the plain and simple truth that the six policemen would still be alive today had not the DND and AFP rejected the Stand Down of forces which was agreed upon in the GRP-NDFP talks and which the NPA was prepared to observe?” asked Casambre.

“Along with the six policemen, another casualty of the DND-AFP rejection of any kind of ceasefire is the peace talks themselves which PRRD (President Duterte) ‘postponed’ reportedly upon the ‘request’ of the military,” he added.