Responding to a Senate committee report, the Makabayan bloc on Thursday, February 25 declared that it condemns and “do not tolerate any atrocity” committed by warring factions in an armed conflict, whether committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF or the military.
In a statement, the six-man bloc of progressive lawmakers said that they “do not espouse nor are engaged in the armed struggle.”
“We certainly condemn and do not tolerate any atrocity committed by any side of the armed conflict, especially those in violation of the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” the Makabayan bloc said.
The group composed by Reps. Carlos Isagani Zarate; Ferdinand Gaite and Eufemia Cullamat of Bayan Muna; France Castro (ACT-Teachers Partylist); Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Partylist) and Sarah Jane Elago (Kabataan partylist) issued a statement reacting to the report released on Wednesday by the Committee on National Defense.
Chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the Senate panel enjoined the congressmen to openly and strongly denounce the CPP-NPA-NDF “for its actual acts of aggression against the duly constituted government and against the people.
Senators also dared the six congressmen to disassociate themselves from the armed struggle.
In response the Makabayan bloc stated: “We maintain our principled stand that the armed struggle of the CPP-NPA-NDF, while illegal under our laws, is rooted in historical and legitimate grievances that have to be addressed by the government.”
“To frame this struggle as "terrorism" and demand that it be denounced as such is to prejudice and foreclose prospects for a negotiated political settlement between the rebels and the government,” the opposition lawmakers pointed out.
“We are still hopeful that parties would return to the peace table, if not in this administration, then in the next,” they said.
The solons added: “The Makabayan bloc believes that the way to end the armed conflict in our country is to address its root causes, such as landlessness, massive unemployment, inadequate social services, and widespread poverty and inequality.”
“Peace negotiations can provide a path to a long-lasting solution,” they stressed.
Nearly all government administrations, including the Duterte government, sought a peaceful end to the conflict via the negotiating table but none had so far succeeded.
In the same statement, Makabayan solons chided the Senate panel for refusing “to acknowledge the direct link between red-tagging by government agents and the perpetration of human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings” against those that are being linked to the CPP-NDF-NPA.
“We disagree with the Senate report's affirmation that "red-tagging is not a policy of the state," which merely echoed the pronouncements made by officials leading the administration's counterinsurgency effort,” the congressional bloc said.
“We strongly disagree with the Report's conclusion that the adoption of the "whole-of-nation approach" and the creation of the NTF-ELCAC through Pres. Duterte's Executive Order 70 is "effective" and "provides a better alternative" to peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF, since it "refocuses the government policy to armed conflicts not only as a military concern but primarily, a manifestation of broad and deep-rooted societal ills,” Makabayan solons said, referring to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
However, the six lawmakers welcomed the Senate panel’s recommendation to censure Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., NTF-ELCAC spokesman, for alleged “reckless and negligent” red-tagging statements.