Gov't exec to NPA rebels: End armed struggle

MANILA — The chairperson of the government negotiating panel in talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines- New People's Army-National Democratic Front called on the group to end its armed struggle yesterday, a day before the NPA's 47th founding anniversary.

In a media statement, panel chair Alexander Padilla called for a return to the peace talks, which have been stalled since 2013 over the arrests of people the government says are NPA members but whom the CPP-NPA-NDF says are peace consultants covered by a joint agreement giving them immunity.

"We invite the NPA and its mother organization, the Communist Party of the Philippines, to heed the call of the Filipino people to end its violent struggle against the government and discuss the issues that divide us in sincere, honest and peaceful dialogue. There is no issue that cannot be resolved between wellmeaning Filipinos who are determined to secure a better life for all our people," Padilla said.

Padilla also alluded to, but did not elaborate, on the NPA's "escalated campaign of violence" and its alleged collection of revolutionary taxes and "permit-to-campaign" fees from candidates in NPA-influenced areas.

"Our people deserve their right to fair, free and peaceful elections, but this is not possible under the regime of arson, extortion, and murder imposed by the NPA in the countrysides," he said.

Earlier this month, seven people were injured in two attacks in the Bicol region that the military blames on the NPA. Two civilians were among the wounded by a roadside bomb in Camarines Norte that also left soldiers injured.

In February, eight police officers were killed and sever- al others were injured in a series of ambushes and attacks in Cagayan, Bukidnon and Negros. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the attacks may have been part of the rebel group's extortion activities.

An editorial in the February 21 issue of Ang Bayan, the CPP's official publication, called on the people "to reject the reformist illusion being inexorably peddled by the reactionaries and counterrevolutionary petty-bourgeois forces that participating in the reactionary elections will bring about relevant change."

It said that armed revolution, and not elections, will "overthrow imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism," which the CPP-NPA-NDF believes is keeping Filipinos poor and oppressed.

The New People's Army was founded on March 29, 1969 and is said to be fighting the world's longest-running insurgency.