COMMUNIST leader Jose Ma. Sison has asked comrades in the Philippines to reconsider an order the communist party earlier issued to intensify rebel attacks as a response to the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
"The NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) negotiating panel has recommended to the National Executive Committee of the NDFP and in effect the Central Committee of the CPP to reconsider the order to the NPA to intensify tactical offensives as response to the Lorenzana statement that the NPA is a target of martial law," Sison said in a statement posted on his Facebook account Friday, May 26.
Sison, founder and chief political consultant of the Communist Party of the Philippines, said he "deplores" the reported statement of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that the New People's Army (NPA) is also a target of the Mindanao-wide martial law.
But he said the government's chief peace negotiator has already clarified that the NPA is not the target of the martial law, underscoring a recent meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and communist chief peace negotiator Fidel Agcaoili that the two parties will unite against terrorist groups Maute and Abu Sayyaf.
"We, in the NDFP, are together with the GRP (government) in opposing and fighting the Isis-affiliated and CIA-supported groups like the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf," Sison said.
"The terrorist act by the Maute group should not be an obstacle to the fifth round of formal talks but should be an incentive to the GRP and NDFP to meet and agree to fight groups that are terrorst because they target, terrorize and harm civilians solely or mainly," Sison said.
On Tuesday, hours after IS-inspired terror group Maute engaged military troops in Marawi City, President Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao.
Lorenzana, in a press conference on Tuesday night, mentioned the Maoist rebel group as one of the in the peace and security situation in Mindanao and one of the reasons for martial law.
The pronouncement apparently irked the communists that in a strongly worded statement, the group ordered the following day, May 24, its armed wing, NPA, "to plan and carry out more tactical offensives across Mindanao and the entire archipelago."
Labor Secretary Silvestro Bello III, in response, raised an alarm and clarified that martial law "is not for the NPA."
"If it was true that martial law in Mindanao is not directed against the NPA, then Bello must inform Lorenzana," the CPP said in a May 25 statement.
The CPP also said the imposition of martial law in Mindanao will have negative implications in the ongoing NDFP-GRP peace negotiations.
"As Duterte’s martial law is against the people, it is imperative for the New People’s Army to take action to oppose and fight it in order to defend the people’s rights and interests," it said. (VLA/VoxPop Philippines)