The Armed Forces of the Philippines has recommended to President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo a six-day unilateral ceasefire with the New People’s Army this holiday season, AFP chief Gen. Victor Ibrado said yesterday.

The proposed holiday truce will be from Dec. 24 to 26, and resume on Dec. 31 to January 2 next year.

Traditionally, government enters into a holiday truce with the rebels to enable soldiers, rebels, and civilians living within conflict areas to celebrate Christmas in an atmosphere of calm and peace.

AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said that during the SOMO (suspension of military operations), they will continue their vigilance and be on a “defensive mode”, especially since the Communist Party of the Philippines, political wing of the NPA, will mark its 41st anniversary on Dec. 26.

In previous years, the CPP-NPA also observed a unilateral holiday truce, to allow their comrades to be with their families during the Christmas season.

Col. Maximo Caro, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday urged communist rebels who are still in the mountains and fighting the government to re-think what they are fighting for.

“There are peaceful and accepted ways to achieve political change and aspirations, like the coming elections where we vote and select our leaders,” Caro said.

There is no justification for armed struggle. Nobody wins in an insurgency, he added.

In his recent visit to Negros Occidental, Ibrado said the SOMO may boost the attempt of the government to re-open the peace talks with the National Democratic Front.

Malacañang said in a statement that it hopes CPP leader Jose Maria Sison will seriously consider helping restore lasting peace in the country after his name was stricken off the European Union’s terrorist list by the European Court of First Instance.

Resumption of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front, the political arm of the local communist insurgency movement, was supposed to be held in Oslo, Norway last Aug. 28. It was called off after the NDF insisted on an additional demand as a precondition to the talk.*GPB

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