Gov’t to file petition before court declaring CPP-NPA terror groups next week

January 11, 2018

The Department of Justice has yet to file a petition before a court to formally declare the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army as terrorist organizations.

This was despite President Rodrigo Duterte's issuance of Proclamation No. 374 to proscribe the CPP and NPA as terrorist groups under the Republic Act No. 10168, otherwise known as the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, on Dec. 5 last year.

In a press briefing in Malacanang on Thursday, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said his office will file the petition by next week due to "last-minute consultation".

"(I) just talked to Prosecutor Peter Ong and hopefully, in the coming week, it will be filed because there was last-minute consultation with the Office of the Executive Secretary as well as with the other intelligence services of the government," he said.

He said once the government's petition is filed before the Regional Trial Court in Manila, a full blown trial is expected.

"They have to gather all the instances where terroristic activities could be attributed to the NPAs," he said.

Aguirre said there were petitions filed before different courts to lift the bail of some of the rebel group's consultants, such as couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, so they could be rearrested since the peace talks were terminated by the government.

He said Tiamzons are in the country. Celerina Monte/DMS