CPP declares 10-day unilateral ceasefire
December 21, 2004

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Central Committee today ordered the New People's Army to go on a 10-day ceasefire nationwide, even as it said that the Arroyo government "has made a permanent ceasefire impossible."

The rejection of a longer-term truce was made in reaction to statements by Malacanang calling for a permanent cessation of hostilities between the government and the NPA.

The Christmas ceasefire, which takes effect from midnight of December 23 until midnight of January 2, 2005, was made "in unity with the Filipino people's traditional celebration of Christmas and the New Year" and "to pave the way" for the celebration of the CPP's 36th anniversary on December 26.

The CPP, however, has instructed NPA fighters to continue to bear arms and "remain alert and ready to fight and defeat any attacks and harassment" by government armed troops.

The CPP said it issued the declaration despite the Arroyo government's continued violation of past agreements reached in the now-suspended peace talks. The government, said the CPP, has 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 Jose Ma. Sison in the US list of so-called terrorists.

The CPP also accused the Arroyo regime of "relentlessly violating" provisions of the human rights agreement signed by the NDF and the Philippine government.

It likewise condemned "successive brutal attacks by fascist forces of the reactionary government against unarmed people," citing the the November 16 Hacienda Luisita massacre and the more recent killing of peasant leader Marcelino Beltran, a vital witness to the massacre. It also condemned state forces for indiscriminately firing at a human rights day demonstration in Daet, Camarines Sur.

The CPP also scored the Arroyo regime for "duplicity" in declaring a Christmas ceasefire even as AFP and PNP continue with their military campaigns and operations against NPA guerrilla fronts across the archipelago. The CPP reported ongoing AFP offensive military operations in Cagayan Valley, Mindoro Occidental, Surigao del Sur and Negros Occidental.

No permanent ceasefire

Saying that the "puppet, corrupt and antipeople" Arroyo government has made a permanent ceasefire impossible, CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal cited the regime's extreme subservience to US interests and its antipeople acts.

"In the face of its relentless attacks against the people, calling for a long-term truce is a psywar ploy to camouflage its militarist war of terror and crimes against the people," said Rosal.

Rosal likewise cited the regime's policy of freezing wages amid soaring prices and allowing foreign oil companies to raise oil prices with impunity, as well as worsened corruption and criminal activities by government officials as added factors that make a long-term truce untenable.

"A just and lasting peace can only be achieved by resolving the roots of the armed conflict, primarily by carrying out land reform and national industrialization," Rosal added.

"The Arroyo regime's puppetry to US interests, its worsening corruption and criminal activities, the intensified hardships and oppression of the masses and the brazen use of fascist state violence all justify the intensification of revolutionary armed struggle," Rosal said.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553

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CPP declares 10-day unilateral ceasefire December 21, 2004

CPP declares 10-day unilateral ceasefire
December 21, 2004