Ceasefire declaration
Central Committee
Communist Party of the Philippines
December 21, 2004
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) declares a unilateral ceasefire for the Christmas season.
The ceasefire takes effect from midnight of December 23, 2004 to midnight of January 2, 2005.
The declaration is being made in unity with the Filipino people's traditional celebration of Christmas and the New Year, and to pave the way for the people and the revolutionary forces to celebrate the 36th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines on December 26.
All units of the New People's Army (NPA) will continue to bear arms and remain alert and ready to fight and defeat any attacks and harassment by regular and paramilitary forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP).
The CPP issues this declaration despite the Arroyo regime's continued violation of past agreements that has led to the virtual suspension of the peace talks. The Arroyo regime has, among others, failed to fulfill its commitment to take concrete measures to oppose and rectify the malicious inclusion of the CPP, NPA and NDF Peace Panel Chief Political Consultant Ka Jose Maria Sison in the US list of so-called "terrorists." The GRP and its armed forces have likewise committed relentless violations of the provisions of the CARHRIHL and the people's human rights.
The CPP issues this declaration even as it condemns the successive brutal attacks by fascist forces of the reactionary government against unarmed people peacefully protesting or asserting their democratic rights. Foremost among these was the massacre of strikers at Hacienda Luisita. Recently, military forces also murdered Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Tarlak (AMT) chair Marcelino Beltran who joined the Hacienda Luisita strike and was a witness against AFP and PNP officers and personnel as well as Hacienda Luisita officials who perpetrated the massacre. On International Human Rights Day itself, military forces indiscriminately fired at a demonstration in Daet, Camarines Sur protesting worsening violations of human rights. These fascist brutalities emphasize the need to consolidate and strengthen the people's resistance and struggles.
This declaration is being issued even as the CPP calls on the people to intensify their struggles in the face of ever- worsening hardships wrought by the economic crisis of the rotten and backward ruling social system and the unbridled greed of local and foreign big capitalists, big landlords and big bureaucrats. Prices of petroleum products and basic commodities continue to rise, while workers' wages are kept low. The Arroyo regime imposes additional tax burdens even as corruption within the highest echelons of the civilian and military bureaucracy worsens.
This declaration is being made even as the CPP condemns the duplicity of the Arroyo regime in declaring a Christmas ceasefire while AFP and PNP forces continue with their military campaigns and operations against NPA guerrilla fronts across the archipelago. Often, in many places and smack into their "ceasefire" period, the AFP and PNP intensify their attacks in the name of "police operations." All units of the NPA must therefore be ever alert and ready against the possibility of treacherous attacks by the AFP and PNP.
On this occasion, we give particular attention to the people along the Sierra Madre ranges, from the Bicol region to Southern Tagalog, Central and Northern Luzon who suffered gravely from the calamity brought about by the widespread destruction of forests by big commercial loggers and exporters who collaborate with the imperialists and big bureaucrat capitalists. As instructed by the CPP, all NPA units in the area are extending all possible assistance to calamity victims.
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