Regime terminates peace talks
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has further manifested her militarist character. In a decision mandated by her imperialist master, Macapagal-Arroyo has effectively terminated the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
In a decision taken by the NDFP National Executive Committee on April 12 in accordance with the recommendation of the NDFP Negotiating Panel and the Chief Political Consultant, the NDFP condemned the following measures taken by Macapagal-Arroyo:
- Her abandonment of the framework for negotiations laid down in The Hague Joint Declaration, Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees and the Joint Agreement on the Formation, Sequence and Operationalization of the Reciprocal Working Committees;
- Her having rescinded the major agreements formally signed and approved by the principals of the NDFP and GRP from 1992 to 2001, including agreements formally signed and approved by the NDFP and GRP negotiating panels in the same period;
- Her termination of formal peace negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP. So-called back channel talks between GRP and NDFP emissaries have been substituted instead. The persistence of such talks presumes the surrender of the NDFP and the demobilization of the New People's Army (NPA). This is based on the GRP's erroneous belief that the NDFP fears the mercenary military, police and paramilary forces of the puppet Macapagal-Arroyo regime and US military intervention.
In reality, Macapagal-Arroyo has not shown any seriousness with regards to the peace talks since the beginning of her term. In May, she arbitrarily and unilaterally terminated the peace negotiations. She justified the move, citing the punishment of a number of rabid enemies of the people and the revolutionary movement.
The regime now rationalizes that it has completely lost interest in peace talks, saying that negotiations with armed movements are now pass� after the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001.
With utmost arrogance, the regime threatens the revolutionary movement by saying that US military intervention would continue unless the NPA surrenders. The Macapagal-Arroyo regime forgets that for the past 33 years, US imperialism and its past puppet regimes have failed to defeat the armed struggle and annihilate the revolutionary forces. The NPA now stands ever solid and determined to wage resistance.
Macapagal-Arroyo has clearly shown her contempt for the agreements forged between the NDFP and the GRP. This constitutes a refusal to identify and resolve the roots of the armed conflict between the reactionary government and the revolutionary forces.
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