DWDD: STATEMENT | SND Delfin Lorenzana’s Response to the Statements of Mr. Joma Sison and Rep. Ariel Casilao

From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Apr 3): STATEMENT  |  SND Delfin Lorenzana’s Response to the Statements of Mr. Joma Sison and Rep. Ariel Casilao



The recent statement of Mr. Jose Maria Sison which claims that I “obscure and deny the fact that against tremendous odds, the NPA has grown and gained strength nationwide from its modest beginnings…” is a far cry from reality.

It proves that Mr. Sison is living in the past. If he doesn’t believe me, why doesn’t he come back and see for himself what happened to his class struggle? His Utopian ideology has been reduced to plain and simple banditry and extortion.

In a news article published on March 29, 2018, Mr. Sison purportedly said, “The government and the NDFP had agreed to draft a ceasefire agreement as early as last year. Since October 2017, the NDFP has positively responded to the expressed desire of the GRP to draft a ceasefire agreement more effective and more sustained than the previous unilateral ceasefires.” May I clarify that there is no agreed truce between the Philippine government and the CPP-NPA-NDFP.

In the same article, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao was quoted as saying, “President Duterte should not listen to Lorenzana’s position that he will not recommend the resumption of talks. The fact that there are documents painstakingly drafted which served as the guidelines on the series of negotiations are proof that there are positive outcome of the talks.”

The documents Rep. Casilao was referring to only signify that progress indeed, had been made but only on the side of CPP-NPA as those documents support only their cause. To say that there were positive outcomes of the talks which were mutually beneficial is deceptive.

The leftist lawmaker also cited that, “It is clear that Lorenzana and others like him in the ranks of the military and the police continue to belittle the gains of the talks. Lorenzana is hanging on to the idea that the peace talks can only be reopened if the NPA surrendered its firearms.” Of course, the military and the police want the firearms of the NPAs surrendered for the simple reason that there are only two sectors in the Philippines authorized by law to bear arms: the military and the law enforcement agencies. All others are outlaws. And why would not the CPP-NPA-NDF agree to disarmament? That is because their ultimate end is to take over government through armed struggle. They want to talk and fight at the same time so that they can hold the Filipino people and government hostage while talking.

Mr. Sison and Rep. Casilao only highlighted their disconnect with the GRP’s idea of progress, as far as the peace talks are concerned. If we go back to the time when the peace talks were ongoing from September 2016 to February 2017, both sides declared unilateral ceasefires, but the NPA did not stand down. In fact, they continued to extort, burn buses and other equipment, and attacked government forces more aggressively. How can they claim that there was progress in the talks when there wasn’t any? Opportunistic as they are, they were just using the talks to further their ends.

The CPP-NPA-NDF uses those draft agreements to show some semblance of progress when there were none. They are just smokescreens. How can a mere agreement to draft a ceasefire and agreed guidelines on negotiations be considered “progress” when members of their armed component, the NPA, continued attacking government forces, extorting from businessmen, and recruiting and expanding their forces? And did not Sison admit that he has no control over their local fighters? This was when the NPAs massacred two soldiers who were returning from Malaybalay to their detachment while a ceasefire was in effect in early 2017. If so, what ceasefire are we talking about if their fighters on the ground will not abide by it?

Rep. Casilao likewise stated, “Lorenzana does not recognize the fact that the rebellion was rooted in landlessness, poverty and injustice.” This statement shows how archaic the thinking of these people has become. It is already 2018. The propaganda lines they are using are from their circa 1969 playbook when the NPA was established. They still mouth the Marcos-US dictatorship cliché but they have slightly modified it to “Duterte-US dictatorship.”

They are trapped in the past and cannot move on. They refuse to acknowledge that a lot of progress has already been made by the government to address landlessness, poverty and injustice. Did the government not address (and is still addressing) landlessness through its Agrarian Reform Program which allowed the distribution of thousands of hectares of land to landless Filipinos? Is the government not building infrastructure for farm to market roads and to encourage job generating industries all over the country? Did the government not establish programs to address the so-called injustice by the Courts, the Ombudsman, the Commission on Human Rights and the Sandiganbayan? Besides, the advances in communications technology have made

Third, they are about to be declared by the court as a terrorist organization. They can no longer hide their sinister plans and actions by using their political ideology as their legal cover. Is PEACE really the aim of the CPP-NPA-NDF when they come to the peace table? Let us not delude ourselves because it is not. They will just use the peace talks with the government as their so-called democratic space to gain time and advantage to further their armed rebellion. Once their purpose is accomplished, they would create situations to break off the talks. They have done this many times in the past and that is the reason why we have not had any progress in the last three decades.

Let me state for the record that I am flattered by their belief that I was the cause of the peace talks’ stoppage. This, I consider, is a fulfilment of my patriotic duty to stand and defend the people against their deceptive schemes and despicable acts. True to form, they blame others when they themselves caused the cessation of peace talks by their treacherous attacks on Government forces, massive extortion activities, destruction of properties, as well as recruitment and expansion in some areas.

Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga nagpapahayag ng suporta sa ating pamahalaan dahil mulat sila sa katotohanang hindi seryoso sa peace talks ang CPP-NPA-NDFP. Gusto lang ng mga komunista na makalamang kaya nananawagan silang ipagpatuloy ito. We urge the CPP-NPA and their supporters to take the peaceful path towards change so that a just and lasting peace may be achieved, thereby rendering a truce or ceasefire unnecessary. DND PAS / MCAG

http://dwdd.com.ph/2018/04/03/statement-snd-delfin-lorenzanas-response-to-the-statements-of-mr-joma-sison-and-rep-ariel-casilao/