THE New People’s Army (NPA) has been ordered by its political wing to intensify and accelerate its war against the government, noting President Duterte has yet to deliver his promised change after eight months in office.
The order was issued by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to the NPA on the latter’s 48th anniversary on Wednesday. It came in the aftermath of a statement by the CPP about its plan to declare a cease-fire at the end of this month.
“Carry out extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare on an ever-widening and deepening mass base and toward developing full-scale guerrilla warfare,” the CPP, through its central committee, ordered the rebels.
“Accelerate the recruitment of armed personnel in all regions across the entire archipelago. Recruit large numbers from the educated youth and working class to become cadres and political officers in the New People’s Army,” it said.
The CPP also ordered the rebels to increase their fighters in villages and build guerrilla units in the municipal level, while expanding, consolidating and building new guerrilla fronts around the country.
The government and the rebels, through the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), are set to resume peace talks in the Netherlands next week. Negotiations would focus on socioeconomic reforms and, possibly, even a bilateral cease-fire.
The CPP said it will declare a cease-fire for its fighters in preparation for the talks, but Duterte said it may not be reciprocated by the government, unless it is put into writing with its parameters.
He said the rebels must stop their attacks and collecting taxes.
The CPP claimed Filipino people are “becoming increasingly restive over the unfulfilled promises of Duterte” as they demand “national sovereignty, industrialization, genuine land reform, an end to bureaucratic corruption and widespread poverty and oppression.”
It said that, while the rebels are willing to engage the Duterte administration in talks and forge a peace agreement, they are also aware of the dangers of “pacification, especially as a result of a prolonged cease-fire without substantial gains for the Filipino people.”
Meanwhile, the military, through its spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, has warned soldiers to be on alert against any possible attacks by the rebels in marking their anniversary.
Padilla also called on the NPA to stop “committing atrocities, end its extortion activities and free all of its captives”, which, he said, should prove its sincerity for the resumption of the negotiations.