The progressive Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives filed a resolution calling for the “urgent revocation” of the resolutions designating leftist organizations and their armed wing as terrorists and urged the government to resume peace talks thereafter.
House Resolution (HR) 756 called on the Anti-Terrorism Council to revoke the designation of terrorists from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army (NPA), and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and individuals linked by the government to the said organizations.
The resolution was signed by Reps. France Castro of ACT Teachers Party-list, Arlene Brosas of Gabriela Women’s Party, and Raoul Manuel of Kabataan Party-list.
The revocation of the designation is a prelude to the resumption of the peace talks that broke down in 2018 during the Duterte administration.
“Be it further resolved that the Government of the Philippines restart peace negotiations with the NDF with the aim of achieving just and lasting peace through negotiated binding agreements that will institute social, economic, and political reforms to address the roots of armed conflict,” the resolution said.
The bloc added that “recent history shows that the conduct of peace negotiations is an effective path to end hostilities”, citing the peace agreement with the Moro International Liberation Front (MILF) under the Aquino administration, the enactment of Republic Act 11054, or the Bangsamoro Basic Law, and the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Designating these groups as terrorists “indicates government's refusal to acknowledge that the ongoing armed conflict with the CPP-NPA persists because of its failure to implement the reforms needed to address widespread poverty, inequality, and social injustice.”
The group also lambasted how these designations further “the indiscriminate and ongoing labelling as terrorists” of people critical to the government.
These include trade unions, organizations of farmers, women, youth, indigenous peoples, teachers, health workers, lawyers, and church workers, as well as members of the political opposition.
“Such ‘terrorist tagging’ is used to justify government suppression of constitutionally protected rights and liberties, including freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and academic freedom, and is often followed by state surveillance, harassment, arrest and prolonged detention on trumped-up charges, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings,” the resolution read.