'CPP-NPA insincere; peace talks doomed to fail'

MANILA, Philippines - A party-list lawmaker has asked the government to scrap the peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), saying the groups are not sincere in achieving peace.

Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) party-list Rep. Pastor Alcover said while ANAD wants peace, it believes that the current peace initiative of the government with the CPP-NPA-NDF is “doomed to fail because of the communist group’s insincerity.” 

This developed as Army troops repulsed an NPA attack in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental Friday night.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz said the insurgents repeatedly tried but failed to dislodge the troops in their bid to overrun the Army patrol base in Sitio Kiwali, Barangay Kibanban.

“Due to heavy resistance from our outnumbered troops, the rebels numbering about 30 and armed with rifles, withdrew, bringing along their wounded comrades,” Ortiz said.

Government security forces are still pursuing 20 NPA rebels, including three women, who torched heavy equipment in Gingoog City Friday.

Last Thursday night, NPA guerrillas in Agusan del Norte attacked anew a detachment of the Provincial Public Safety Company along the national highway at the boundary of Carmen and Nasipit towns.

There were no casualties on both sides as the rebels withdrew when policemen manning the camp fought back, authorities said.

In a privilege speech, Alcover accused the CPP-NPA-NDF of using the peace talks to pursue their goal to eventually overthrow the system and run the government. 

“It would be best to stop this wasteful exercise where no one benefits but the CPP-NPA. Let us sound our call to put an immediate end to all their mischievous acts,” he said.

Alcover noted that when the United States and the European Union declared the CPP-NPA as terrorists, the CPP used the issue to conduct political adventurism by turning their backs on the negotiating table and blaming the Philippine government for the terrorist tags. 

“They initiate and create situations to their advantage. They kill even their comrades to scuttle the peace negotiations when they realize that their terms and demands would be turned down. That’s their training, the teaching they got from Mao Tse Tung,” Alcover said. 

And since the CPP-NPA-NDF realized it could never overthrow the government, it shifted their political tactic by supporting politicians and establishing party-list groups to advance their objectives, he said.

He said the CPP-NPA uses “a protracted people’s war strategy by destroying the country’s economy and giving farmers guns instead of letting them till the land.”

The groups can persuade people to believe and support their cause because their members are good talkers, he said.

“The members of this communist group were trained and taught the teaching of Mao Tse Tung who believes that peace can only be achieved through their brand of revolution and that the revolution is not a dinner party nor a picnic but a violent overthrow of the system,” Alcover said.   

“This teaching says it all. There will only be peace once the CPP-NPA-NDF succeeds in taking over government and only after establishing a communist dictatorship just like what happened to Nepal,” he said.

– With Jaime Laude and Ben Serrano