Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. rejected proposals to resume the stalled peace negotiations between the government and the communist movement.
Teodoro insisted that the Philippine government will no longer participate in talks with what he described as a group responsible for disrupting public peace.
He claimed the country is already peaceful, while the New People’s Army (NPA) continues committing crimes.
Teodoro made the statement following an appeal from a group of former peace negotiators, including Hernani Braganza, former agrarian reform secretary; Efren Moncupa, human rights lawyer and former member of the government peace panel; Jaime Aristotle Alip, founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development-Mutually Reinforcing Institutions; Francisco J. Lara Jr., peace and conflict studies expert; and Roberto Ador, a former political detainee.
The group urged the government to resume peace negotiations with communist rebels, noting that previous talks nearly produced an interim agreement before being terminated under former President Rodrigo Duterte.
They cited a recent military operation in Negros Occidental, where 19 individuals were killed, as proof of the urgent need to resolve the decades-long insurgency.
“The nineteen (19) deaths in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 19, 2026 underscore the urgent need to finally settle this long-standing armed conflict,” the group said.
Teodoro, however, maintained that reopening talks would lend “legitimacy” to what he described as terrorism.
“Plain and simple, it’s terrorism. To call for peace talks is to elevate the morality of their cause to something legitimate, which I cannot accept. Hindi ko matatanggap ‘yun,” he said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) stood firm that the April 19 encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental was a clash with the NPA, resulting in the deaths of 19 alleged rebels.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), however, disputed the AFP’s account, claiming that 10 NPA fighters and 9 civilians were killed in the military operation. #
