DND junks ceasefire talks with CPP-NPA

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on Wednesday ruled out a ceasefire with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), after the organization announced it would not declare a holiday truce this year. 

“Any ceasefire with the CPP-NPA-NDF is a ceasefire against terrorists and criminals,” Teodoro said in a statement. 

“It is a last-ditch measure of a Jurassic group to find relevance in the national political ecosystem,” he added. 

On Tuesday, the CPP-NPA said it will not declare a holiday truce with the government this year amid the alleged continued attacks of state forces, which the group said trample upon political and civil rights as well as international humanitarian law.

"In anticipation of the holidays and the upcoming 56th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines, units of the NPA and local peasant mass organizations in the countryside are busy preparing meetings and small assemblies in order to celebrate past victories, take stock of weaknesses and strengths, and reaffirm their resolve to wage greater struggles in the coming year," the statement read.

The CPP will mark its 56th anniversary on December 26.

Meanwhile, the CPP likewise rejected the government's claim that the New People's Army has "only one weakened" guerrilla front, calling it "disinformation."

—Sundy Locus/ VAL, GMA Integrated News