Keeping CPP in US terror list meant to 'undermine' peace talks - Bayan

From InterAksyon (Jun 3): Keeping CPP in US terror list meant to 'undermine' peace talks - Bayan

The continued inclusion of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army in the US list of foreign terrorist organizations “is intended to undermine” the expected resumption of peace negotiations between the rebels and the incoming administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, a leftist group said Saturday.

The CPP and NPA, listed as a single entity, are among the 58 “US Government Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations” listed in the State Department’s recently released “Country Reports on Terrorism 2015.” The list also includes the Abu Sayyaf.

“The US once again hopes to use the terrorist listing as a form of intervention in an internal matter” and “cast a cloud of doubt even before the talks begin,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said in a statement.

Duterte has vowed to resume formal negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which represents the communist rebels, and initial talks are expected to be held in Norway in the middle of this month. CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison, exiled in The Netherlands, has indicated he might return to the country in July.

The president-elect has also appointed to Cabinet and other positions several persons nominated by the NDF on his urging, among them Agrarian Reform Secretary-designate Rafael Mariano and Judy Taguiwalo, named to head the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“The fact that cabinet posts were even offered by incoming President Duterte to the CPP belies the ‘terrorist’ claims of the US,” Reyes said.

“This practice of ‘terrorist listing’ should be rejected,” he added. “Any form of US intervention in the peace talks should be exposed and opposed by the Filipino people who have long sought a just and lasting peace.”

Meanwhile, the CPP hailed the NPA in Davao Oriental for overrunning the police station of General Generoso town, seizing several weapons and capturing the chief of police, Chief Inspector Arnold Ongachen.

The CPP called Sunday’s raid “among the exclamation points to mark the end of the Aquino regime” and said the NPA “can launch more tactical offensives over the next few weeks to carry out just and punitive actions against the most rabid units” of the military and police, especially those guilty of human rights violations.

At the same time, highlighting the imminent negotiations, the CPP said it “can further consider scaling-down tactical offensives prior to resumption of formal peace negotiations and nationwide ceasefire in response to similar confidence-building measure of the incoming Duterte government including the release of key consultants of the NDFP."

http://interaksyon.com/article/128638/keeping-cpp-in-us-terror-list-meant-to-undermine-peace-talks---bayan