Truce: Troopers in ‘passive defense’

From The Standard (Aug 22): Truce: Troopers in ‘passive defense’

COMBAT operations have been stopped since midnight Saturday but troops will stay put in their areas of operation and have strict orders not to launch offensives against the New People’s Army in view of the truce declared by the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines, which begin formal peace talks Monday in Oslo, Norway, Army spokesman Col. Benjamin Hao said Sunday.

“All combat operations have been already canceled. Just like the last time after the Sona [State of the Nation Address] announcement, we are now going back to barracks,” Hao said.

But Hao said law enforcement operations against criminal groups including the campaign against illegal drugs will continue.

 “There is no instruction for our troops to pull out. The only instruction is to stop combat operations. In effect, we are in passive defense mode to protect communities from lawless attack together with the police,” he said.

Two days before the start of the Olso negotiations, the NPA declared a seven-day ceasefire that begins Monday.

This was followed by Malacañang’s declaration of an indefinite ceasefire that Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Jesus Dureza said shows that Duterte is willing to “walk [the] extra mile” to achieve genuine peace.

On Monday, the government peace panel led by Dureza and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panel led by Luis Jalandoni will start peace talks brokered by the Norwegian government.

But while ceasefire is in effect, Hao said the military will not let their guard.
 “We do not operate but we are also on alert and that includes personal security measures,” Hao said.

 “We hope they are sincere. We hope they are happy with that. And we hope we can achieve a lot, especially about peace this time,” he added.

On the eve of the peace talks, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he believes communist rebels will not lay down their arms because of their deeply rooted ideology.

In an interview on radio dwIZ, Trillanes added that the rebels would just take advantage of the peace talks to strengthen their forces.

“If they become strong again, they will ask demands which are impossible to be given. They would then use failure to heed their demands as basis to turn their back from the peace talks,” Trillanes said.

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