The Department of National Defense (DND) has thrown its support behind the government’s designation of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as a terrorist group, calling it as a major step in the country’s effort to address internal security.
“The Department of National Defense supports the resolution of the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) in its designation of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as a terrorist group, based on ATC Resolution No. 2021 signed 23 June 2021,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
“The department hopes that this development justifies and enables the defense sector to move forward in its efforts to address internal security concerns and lay the foundations of sustainable, lasting peace and national development,” Lorenzana added in a statement released by DND spokesman Arsenio Andolong.
The NDFP is the umbrella organization of all democratic forces in the country and it has engaged the government, even the previous administrations, in peace talks with the help of third party facilitators with the aim of ending the decades-old communist-led insurgency in the country.
The Duterte administration officially ended negotiations with the NDFP, which represents more than two dozens of left-leaning and allied groups in March 2019 and has since pursued an anti-insurgency program through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict which was formed by Duterte.
Lorenzana said the council has found “probable cause” warranting the designation, which cited the statement of Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison, who identified the CPP/NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army) as one of the allied organizations of the NDFP.”
The left however called the designation as “baseless.”
“His wife, Juliet De Lima-Sison was also recently named as the Interim Chairperson of the NDF negotiating panel. The couple were both designated as terrorists under ATC Resolution No. 17 earlier this year,” Lorenzana said.
In December last year, the Anti-Terrorism Council designated the CPP and its armed wing, the NPA as terrorist organizations.
Lorenzana noted that the CPP-NPA “continue to launch attacks against the Filipino people, victimizing innocent civilians and destroying billions’ worth of crucial public infrastructure for a principle that has long since been rendered obsolete.”
“Members of the NDFP continue to lure and recruit people to join the NPA, while the CPP itself admits and maintains through its own public media releases and documents the direct and indispensable role of the NDF in its armed operations,” he said.