BACOLOD City – The government’s plan to pursue localized peace talks is “destined to fail,” according to priest-turned-rebel Ka Frank Fernandez.
Fernandez, spokesman of the New People’s Army in Negros Island, said the localized peace negotiations between the government and communist rebels are “designed to smokescreen the brutal and ruthless all-out war that has beset the country.”
He added that it is aimed at diverting people’s attention from President Rodrigo Duterte’s unwillingness to secure sovereignty and pursue true agrarian reform.
The talks will also divide the rebels in different parts of the country, Fernandez stressed.
“His (Duterte’s) rhetoric – demagoguery and strong-man rule – has earned outrage from the people and has left them with no choice but to revolt against the current system,” he added.
Fernandez also blasted Duterte for failing to address the “root of the ongoing civil war” and for choosing to continue “imperialist puppetry” and “fascist capitalism” like his predecessors.
Fernandez stressed that the revolutionary forces in Negros Island are even more determined to forward their movement to achieve “genuine and lasting peace.”
He added that they support the adaptation of The Hague Joint Declaration, Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
Fernandez said the proponents of the localized peace talks are “indifferent to the dire conditions of the Filipino people.”
“They play blind to the everyday struggle of Filipinos such as skyrocketing prices of basic commodities worsened by additional tax burdens, massive hunger, unemployment, landlessness, and homelessness,” he added./PN
