Saturday, August 20, 2016

AFP supportive of all initiatives which can bring peace

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 20): AFP supportive of all initiatives which can bring peace

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Saturday said it supports all initiatives which will bring a just and lasting peace to the nation.

"The AFP support and abide by all peace initiatives where it has the established record of fidelity to past peace initiatives. We just hope that the other party is as sincere and as committed to attaining a just and lasting peace," AFP public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

Last Friday, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its New People’s Army (NPA) declared a seven-day unilateral ceasefire hours after the release of its high-ranking leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, who were named consultants to peace talks scheduled Aug. 22 to 26 in Oslo, Norway.

The rebel ceasefire will take effect 12:01 a.m. of Aug. 21 until 11:59 p.m. of Aug. 27.

"We defer further comment on their declaration of ceasefire which is yet to effect 12:01 a.m. of 21 August yet and in the pendency of an official statement from the CinC (Commander-in-Chief)and Pres. Rodrigo Duterte or from Sec. Jesus Dureza," Arevalo added.

Meanwhile, he said AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya will be issuing appropriate instructions to all field units based from any directives that may be issued by the Department of National Defense pursuant to the would-be guidance of the Commander-in-Chief.

"We call on the nation to pray for, support, and rally behind this quest for lasting peace, unification and healing of our country as envisioned by President Rodrigo Duterte," Arevalo said.

Duterte, on his first State-of-the-Nation Address last July 25, declared a unilateral ceasefire against the rebels as a sign of goodwill.

But he was forced to lift it five days later after unprovoked NPA attacks against militiamen in Compostela Valley killed one and wounded four others last July 27 and failure of the rebels to declare their own version of the government ceasefire.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=915756

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.