Lorenzana admits recommending suspending talks with NDF

May 31, 2017

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday admitted that he recommended the suspension of the fifth round of talks with the National Democratic Front in The Netherlands. “While I am flattered by ( human rights group) Pamalakaya’s assertion that I was to blame for the suspension of the fifth round of talks between the GPH ( Government of the Philippines) and the NDF ( National Democratic Front), the truth is that my participation in government decision-making is purely recommendatory,” he said. Lorenzana noted that it is President Rodrigo Duterte who makes the final decision. “It is the President who makes the final decision. The suspension of the peace negotiation was his decision based not only on my input but the whole government bureaucracy,” he said. Lorenzana made his statement after Pamalakaya, a militant group blamed him for the suspension of the peace negotiation. “Pamalakaya’s own narrow-mindedness has obscured the fact that the government’s withdrawal from the talks was due to the NPA’s order to intensify attacks against the government forces after the Martial Law was declared in Mindanao. To blame someone else is the height of naiveté,” Lorenzana said. Lorenzana said Pamalakaya accused him “of gross ignorance for not knowing the dynamics of the peace talks that cessation of hostilities is not a precondition. This in fact is the real gross ignorance.” “Who sets this precondition in the first place? Just because the NPA refuses to have a ceasefire does not make it automatically a precondition for the peace talks. Why can’t we have a bilateral ceasefire while talking?,” he said. “Why is the NPA and its front organizations so averse to have a bilateral ceasefire while we are talking if we seek peace? Is it because they will lose their extortion money that now runs into hundreds of millions of pesos every year so they can continue committing terrorist acts like kidnapping, burning of equipment and buildings and attacking government forces?” Lorenzana added. Last Saturday, the government panel announced its decision not to participate on the fifth round of talks in Netherlands amid a recent announcement of the communist group for the New People’s Army to increase attacks against the government after President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao. (Robina Asido/DMS)