CPP-NPA should be held to account for war crimes as a condition to any “amnesty”!

Are the communists genuine in their efforts to make peace with the Philippine Government? The answer to that question is quite simple. No. Communists have one and only one goal — to overthrow any legitimate government through violent means (what they call their “people’s revolution”) and install their “dictatorship of the proletariat”. Yet, current negotiations between the Philippine Government and officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) reportedly aim to “end their armed struggle and transform into a political movement, according to Norway, which has facilitated the South East Asian island nation’s peace process for around 20 years.”

Notable however is this aspect…

Removing the communist party and affiliated groups from a government list of designated terror organizations was included in the talks, government Peace Process Adviser Carlito Galvez told a press conference in Manila.

How convenient for these terrorists. It remains important that the CPP be held to account for the actions of its terrorist arm, the New People’s Army (NPA). The NPA is a perpetrator of numerous war crimes. Among these is the use of landmines which is prohibited by the “Ottawa Convention” or “Mine Ban Treaty” that came into effect on 1999.

States-parties commit to not using, developing, producing, acquiring, retaining, stockpiling, or transferring anti-personnel landmines, which are defined by the treaty as mines “designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons.” APLs that are remotely triggered, such as claymores, is not proscribed, nor are anti-vehicle mines, including those equipped with anti-handling devices, which are designed to protect anti-vehicles mines from being tampered with or moved. The treaty also forbids signatories from assisting or encouraging any other state or party from engaging in the activities outlawed by the treaty.

The NPA was found to still be using these weapons which had resulted in the tragic deaths of Far Easterner University (FEU) footballer Kieth Absalon and his cousin Nolven Absalon in an explosion in mid-2021. Despite the CPP-NPA taking “full responsibility” for these tragedies, actual consequences for their crimes has not been forthcoming since. Even more disturbing, the tweet in which NPA spokesperson Marco Valbuena issued said apology and admission of responsibility seems to have been deleted (screenshot of deleted tweet exhibited below).

We can see here just how dishonest and duplicitous the CPP-NPA are. They cannot be trusted to be party to any sort of “peace agreement”. Indeed, Vice President Inday Sara Duterte reportedly described the recent initiative to talk “peace” with these terrorists as one that could result in an “agreement with the devil”.

“Mr. President, the government’s statement with the NDFP in Oslo was an agreement with the devil,” Duterte said in an address streamed on her Facebook page.

“They will use this peace negotiations to betray government and deceive the public.”

A monument to FEU footballer Kieth Absalon erected in Masbate

History repeats itself yet again as the current administration of President Bongbong Marcos goes down a path the CPP-NPA had long hoped a Philippine government would tread — one that leads to the same sort of trap that killed Absalon, many brave Filipino soldiers, and many ordinary Filipinos going about their day trying to make an honest living.

benign0

benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.