CPP chides Bello, no bilateral ceasefire amid Oplan Bayanihan offensives
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today rebuked Secretary Silvestre Bello, GRP negotiating panel head, for baselessly claiming that a bilateral ceasefire may possibly be signed by December 10 when in fact there are no negotiations for such an agreement with the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP).
“Bello is conjuring the illusion that a bilateral ceasefire is already in the works in the hope of drawing away attention from the fact that the GRP, so far, has failed to meet its obligation to release political prisoners en masse through a presidential amnesty proclamation,” said the CPP.
NDFP Negotiating Panel Chief Fidel V. Agcaoili earlier said “the GRP is negotiating with itself” in response to Bello’s claims that drafts of the bilateral ceasefire agreement have been exchanged between the two panels.
“The failure of the GRP to release all political prisoners in accordance with the August 21-26 Oslo talks, discourages the revolutionary forces from pursuing negotiations to forge a bilateral ceasefire agreement,” said the CPP.
“Worse, the GRP has yet to rein in the soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) which continue to conduct armed suppression operations in the countryside among the barrios in the guerrilla zones and revolutionary areas,” said the CPP.
“To put it realistically, a bilateral ceasefire agreement is most likely not to be forged before or around December 10,” added the CPP. “The longer the GRP takes to fulfill its obligation to release all political prisoners, the prospects of such an agreement ever being forged become ever dimmer.”
The CPP reiterated its demand for the GRP to “end its Oplan Bayanihan armed supression operations and pull out all its troops from the barrios which continue to carry out hostilities against the people and violate their civil and political rights.”
“If the Duterte regime will continue to turn a deaf ear to the clamor for it to end Oplan Bayanihan, it might just force the hand of the revolutionary forces to defend the rights and welfare of the broad masses within the guerrilla zones and defend the peace talks against its fascist saboteurs in the AFP,” added the CPP.