Ceasefire starts

By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated December 17, 2010 

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang assured the people yesterday that the administration is committed to the ceasefire between the government and communist rebels even as officials expressed concern over the recent ambush staged by rebels in Samar on the eve of the truce that left 10 soldiers and a child dead.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the New People’s Army attack showed that the path to peace is much harder with some communist rebels refusing to show good faith.

Government forces and communist insurgents began a Christmas ceasefire yesterday, darkened by the shadow of the guerrillas’ deadliest attack in a year in the run up to the truce.

Both the government and the rebels declared 18-day ceasefires from midnight Wednesday ahead of the first formal peace talks in six years seeking to end the decades-old Maoist rebellion that has claimed thousands of lives.

The military will observe the ceasefire but remains on guard after NPA guerrillas killed 10 soldiers and a boy two days ago, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta said.

“You can see the treachery involved. It is far from being an act of good faith,” said Mabanta, referring to the ambush in the central island of Samar on Tuesday.

Alexander Padilla, head of the government’s panel negotiating with the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front, said that despite “this treacherous attack” on the eve of the observance of the ceasefire declared by both sides, “we believe that the course to genuine peace is the appropriate answer to the current conflict, which has been ongoing for the past 41 years resulting in the deaths of thousands and the misery of thousands more of our countrymen.”

“We salute the courage of the Armed Forces and these soldiers as we offer our sincerest condolences to the families of the bereaved. The fact that the soldiers were on the way back to the barracks in time for the observance of the suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO), which starts today (yesterday) up to and until Jan. 3, 2011, was equally unfortunate,” Padilla said.

Padilla said “the cause for peace is truly a difficult path to tread, sometimes even more difficult than the exchange of gunfire, killing and wreaking havoc on each other.”

Valte and Padilla called on the communist rebels to be steadfast and committed to the just cause of peace.

“Let us not be swayed by warmongers and harbingers of death and destruction who cannot see beyond their own limited and selfish visions without taking into consideration the welfare and benefit of the entire Filipino nation. We call on our people to continually support the cause of peace. It is one cause we cannot fail for the very sake of our own and our future generations,” Padilla said.

Valte said in a press briefing that the government would abide by what it agreed upon with the communist rebels but stressed that the soldiers were bound to defend themselves when attacked during the duration of the ceasefire.

She also clarified that President Aquino’s order to drop the charges against the detained health workers known as the “Morong 43” that were suspected to be supporters of the communist rebels did not necessarily mean giving in to the demands of the NPA.

“The Morong 43 were released primarily due to a defect in the due process in their arrests. So that has no relation to this incident and we’d like to stress that they were released because of something else,” Valte said.

Valte said the military should not be provoked by the attack and expressed confidence that “our soldiers will abide by the ceasefire.”

“Having said that, we have already stated in the past that they will not provoke attacks nor they will launch an offensive during the ceasefire but they are allowed to defend themselves should they be subject to attack,” Valte said.

Valte said even if these incidents already happened in the past, it was part of the government’s good faith to declare a ceasefire and finally achieve peace through negotiations.

“We are hoping that the peace talks will finally bear fruit and despite this unfortunate incident, we would like to still continue because we think we already have a good start. On our part, as we have said, we come to the negotiations in good faith,” Valte said.

She said the government hopes that the communist rebels would not use the current ceasefire to build arms and recruit new members.

“Again, we would just like to reiterate our hope that the ceasefire will be used for the purpose for which it was arrived at, which was for the cessation of hostilities in light of the Christmas season,” Valte said.

Valte said the chain of command had been given instructions to uphold the ceasefire.

The government peace panel also asked the NPA to be “resolute to the cause of peace.”

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the government would file a protest over the incident but stressed that the military would respect the ceasefire and would not retaliate.

An NPA statement issued in Manila said the group was respecting the ceasefire but accused the military of violating it by sending troops to a rebel-influenced area north of Manila.

“We are prepared to give battle if military and police troops intrude in any NPA positions,” the statement said.

The Christmas ceasefire is intended to pave the way for the resumption of peace talks between the government and the 5,000-strong communist rebel movement.

Chief government negotiator Padilla earlier said talks would begin in Norway in February next year.

The NPA launched its uprising in 1969, and thousands of people have been killed during what has become one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.

Despite last Tuesday’s attack, regarded as one of the deadliest against state troops this year, the Army remains confident that the rebels would honor the ceasefire, which will remain in effect until Jan. 3.

“I guess they (rebels) will follow the provisions of this ceasefire. Perhaps they will study what happened in Samar. Hopefully, they would teach their comrades who cannot be controlled,” Army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade Jr. said in a press briefing.

”Why do they have to do this (ambush) knowing that the ceasefire would take effect in a day? So that’s treachery. These soldiers (were) on their way to their headquarters to observe the ceasefire,” he added.

Parlade said no violation of the ceasefire has been recorded so far but maintained that the military will remain vigilant to thwart possible attacks.

“We should not lower our guards, we have to remain vigilant because in the past, we know that there are incidents wherein the ceasefire was used to conduct offensive or atrocities,” he said.

As this developed, Gazmin reminded the troops to remain focused on their mission and to look after their safety.

Defense department spokesman Eduardo Batac said Gazmin issued the reminder in a dialogue with the military’s major services last Tuesday.

“The secretary stated that all our soldiers should bear in mind that the mission is not fully concluded unless they are back in the barracks,” Batac told The STAR.

“They should maintain their alertness and their focus on the mission and their safety as long as they are not yet in their camps,” he added.

Batac is hopeful that no incident would derail the forthcoming peace talks with the rebels.

With Jose Rodel Clapano, Alexis Romero