Topic: AFP

46 years ago, there was this front page news report on the AFP’s failed counterinsurgency campaign against the 3-year old NPA in the Cagayan Valley.

“The concurrence of Congress is needed for a presidential amnesty proclamation to release all political prisoners in compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in exchange for a mutually effective ceasefire as the first step towards the end of hostilities,” he added.

The NDFP is definitely willing to resume peace negotiations as soon as the GRP agrees and the Filipino people are certainly clamoring for this. But if President Duterte and his subordinates Lorenzana and dela Rosa are unwilling to negotiate peace, the revolutionary forces and people represented by the NDFP have no choice but to concentrate single-mindedly on fighting those who lust for their blood, death and humiliation.

Duterte is engaged in a wild anti-communist witchhunt under the guise of anti-terrorism. An immediate look at his list of ¨terrorists¨ will show that he is running amok in slandering people as ¨terrorists¨. There are also hundreds of John Does in the list just to intimidate a limitless number of people.

In Oplan Tokhang, people are either coerced or persuaded by barangay officials to surrender as drug addicts for rehabilitation. But the list of surrenderers serves as the basis for Duterte´s death squads in the police to fulfill their quotas of killing drug suspects, collecting cash rewards of 10,000 to 20,000 pesos per victim, earning merits for promotion in rank and getting commissions from funeral parlors

The Vice President is wise and sober and knows how to appreciate peace negotiations as the way to solve an armed conflict. She is probably aware that the GRP and NDFP negotiating panels last November were ready to finalize the agreements on general amnesty of political prisoners, major parts of CASER and the coordinated unilateral ceasefire preparatory to the bilateral ceasefire supposedly desired by the AFP

One week after he was elected president, I sent Fidel Agcaoili to confer with him and he promised to release all political prisoners listed by the NDFP. Soon thereafter, he offered to appoint to his cabinet four CPP representatives to be in charge of the departments of labor and employment, agrarian reform, environment and natural resources and social welfare and development.

Now, Duterte is frenziedly corrupting and criminalizing the officers and personnel of the AFP by inciting and inducing them to kill suspected CPP and NPA members under the pretext of offering the bounty money of 20,000 to 100,000 pesos per victim to civilian bounty hunters

It is unbelievable that Duterte has abdicated his role as political leader and commander-in-chief and has become the subordinate of his military subordinates on the crucial question of peace negotiations. He is probably insinuating that Lorenzana can overrule him anytime because his DND secretary takes orders directly from the US.

It is unfair and unjust for DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to accuse me of having prompted his boss Duterte to incite civilians and AFP officers and men to kill 5 NPA suspects everyday and induce them with the reward of 25,000 pesos per victim. It is entirely the responsibility of his commander-in-chief Duterte to make the incitements and inducements to murder people in violation of human rights and international humanitarian law.