NDFP National Council
Public Information Office
Press Statement | July 16, 2018
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and the other militarists in the Duterte regime are delusional if they think that localized peace talks are the key to defeating the armed revolutionary movement.
The localized peace talks came on the heels of Malacañang’s announcement that an executive order would be issued calling for “public consultations” about the peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP.
This worn-out tactic, which has been tried by every regime since that of Fidel Ramos, has always failed because it had no takers among the armed revolutionaries.
The past reactionary governments which consistently failed to secure the wholesale capitulation of the revolutionary forces through national-level peace negotiations always resorted to localized talks as a fallback, thinking that what they could not achieve in one fell swoop, they could do piece by piece.
Localized talks are a classic divide and rule tactic. The idea is to hoodwink local CPP leaders and NPA commanders into agreeing to local ceasefire arrangements, and later on induce them to surrender.
Localized peace talks are also a vain attempt to isolate NDFP chief political consultant Jose Ma. Sison from the mass of revolutionaries, because of the crucial role he plays in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. It could hardly be a coincidence that the latest vilification try against Professor Sison (from rabid anti-communist Rigoberto Tiglao) has come on the eve of the Duterte regime’s issuance of its guidelines on the localized talks.
Localized peace talks are also supposed to complete the armed revolutionary movement’s alleged disintegration, riding on the AFP’s bogus claims that NPA guerrillas and their supporters are feeling the heat of military operations and are surrendering in droves.
NPA National Operations Command spokesperson Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos has exposed the fakery in these mass surrenders by pointing out that ordinary civilians, ex-guerrillas and even paramilitary elements are being presented as surrenderees so that high-ranking military officials could pocket the millions of pesos in funds allotted for this program.
But the most important reason why localized peace talks have never succeeded is because the NPA, led by the CPP, is strong and united organizationally. Regional CPP leaders and NPA commanders fully support the NDFP Negotiating Panel in the peace negotiations with the GRP. The CPP, NPA and other allied organizations of the NDFP are of one mind that the peace talks must address wholly the social, economic and political roots underlying the armed conflict. It is starkly clear to them that these problems cannot be addressed through localized peace talks and piecemeal reforms.
Regional revolutionary forces are already issuing statements repudiating the Duterte regime’s localized peace talks scheme. Only deluded minds like those of Lorenzana and his band of militarists are desperate enough to make another stab at this failed and worthless tactic. ###
