📷: BAYAN President Renato Reyes Jr.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) has criticized President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s issuance of Memorandum Circular 83 (MC-83), which adopts the “National Action Plan for Unity, Peace, and Development” (NAP-UPD) as a strategy to address the country’s 56-year civil war.
In a statement, BAYAN President Renato Reyes Jr. denounced the plan as yet another attempt to impose “fascist non-solutions” to the ongoing armed conflict.
He argued that instead of addressing the calls to abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the NAP-UPD further empowers and strengthens it.
“The memorandum says that action plan is the blueprint to ‘end the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front) insurgency and armed conflict’ but makes no mention of addressing the root causes of the armed conflict nor makes any commitment to resume peace negotiations,” Reyes said.
According to Reyes, the circular effectively shuts the door on peace negotiations and merely recycles failed militarist measures from past administrations.
While the Marcos administration, along with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Royal Norwegian Government, announced in November 2023 discussions on reviving formal peace talks, no substantial progress has been reported.
MC-83, signed on May 2 by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, has raised concerns that instead of fostering negotiations, it could justify further human rights violations against activists accused of links to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
“The red-tagging and other attacks may intensify as we head into the May 12 elections. We see this plan in action now through the nationally coordinated smear campaign against Makabayan,” Reyes stressed.
Reyes warned that with the implementation of the action plan, the Marcos administration is likely to pursue a more militaristic approach to armed insurgency, in line with U.S. counter-insurgency doctrine.
Meanwhile, the CPP has also condemned the circular, accusing Marcos of ignoring widespread demands for NTF-ELCAC’s abolition. CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena alleged that the administration is misleading the public by portraying NTF-ELCAC as a force for peace while attempting to make its proponents appear reasonable. (ZIA LUNA)
