The Marcos Jr.’s duplicity in pursuing peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is highly evident with the latest resolutions issued by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) maintaining the designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) as “terrorist organizations” and branding two women NDFP consultants as “terrorist individuals.”
ATC resolution No. 53 designating NDFP consultant Elizabeth Principe as a “terrorist individual” and ATC resolution No. 54 maintaining the “terrorist” status of the CPP-NPA were both dated December 6, 2023 but uploaded April 17, 2024. Meanwhile, ATC resolution No. 52 designating Ma. Concepcion Araneta-Bocala as a “terrorist individual” was dated October 25, 2023 but uploaded on January 9, 2024. Peace consultants Principle and Araneta-Bocala were arrested and detained under the administrations of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III.
Significantly, these ATC resolutions were issued soon after the Marcos Jr. regime and the NDFP issued a joint statement on November 28, 2023 declaring their intention to pursue the peace talks, which were scuttled in 2017 by former president Rodrigo Duterte.
With these hostile acts, the Marcos Jr. regime is neither building confidence nor creating a conducive atmosphere for peace talks. Instead, it persists in its hostile stance, resorting to arbitrary designations by the ATC that do not nothing but stifle dissent and hamper efforts to achieve just and lasting peace for our country.