Lenten ceasefire with NPA proposed

Sen. Ralph Recto urged Malacañang yesterday to call a ceasefire with communist rebels to allow the military and police to focus their attention on the Abu Sayyaf, who security officials say are planning to launch terror attacks during Holy Week.

The Abu Sayyaf reportedly plans to attack churches in retaliation for last Tuesday’s bloody police assault that ended a failed jailbreak by Abu Sayyaf detainees at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City.

The three ring leaders behind the jailbreak try — Ghalib Andang, Alhamser Limbong and Nadjmi Sabdula — were killed. They were apprehended earlier as the prime suspects in some of the Philippines’ worst terrorist attacks and kidnappings.

The Abu Sayyaf bombing of the Superferry 14 off Corregidor island on Feb. 27, 2004 — in which over a hundred people were killed — is considered the worst terrorist attack in the Philippines.

"If this is true, then government needs to focus its security resources on this threat alone," Recto said. "The nation would welcome the wonderful respite from conflict that a Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday ceasefire would bring."

Recto urged the Communist Party of the Philippines to join the government ceasefire. The New People’s Army is the CPP’s armed wing.

The CPP and the NPA are considered terrorist organizations by the United States and the European Union. The rebels protest the terrorist tag, however, arguing they are fighting for a legitimate cause.

The government has been trying to restart peace negotiations with the rebels. The CPP has been waging a Maoist insurgency since the 1970s.