This, after the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, failed to declare their truce following Saturday deadline President Rodrigo Duterte had imposed the communist group.
Earlier, Duterte ordered all security forces to be on high alert and continue to discharge their normal functions and mandate to neutralize all threats to national security, protect the citizenry, enforce the laws and maintain peace and order.
Quoting Major Ezra Balagtey, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, as saying, the MindaNews reported that EastMinCom has issued a directive for all units to be on high alert and to resume operations against the NPAs.
"...consistent with the directive coming from the military chain-of-command,” Balagtey said adding the directive was issued after President Rodrigo Duterte lifted the unilateral ceasefire with the NPA on Saturday night."
The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Saturday said that the lifting of the ceasefire declaration was a "missed opportunity." It said that it will abide by Duterte's new instructions.
The military's Western Mindanao Command also confirmed army units have resumed offensive action against the communist rebels.
Also the Philippine National Police chief Director, General Ronald dela Rosa, said that the police will also abide by the instructions.
"The PNP will follow the instructions of the commander-in-chief," Dela Rosa said in a statement issued to reporters in Manila.
However, Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto on Sunday called on the government and the National Democratic Front to continue with the peace process despite a complication in the resumption of formal peace talks with communist rebels.
"I urge the NDF and the government not to pull the trigger but to push the reboot button. In the search for peace, deadlines should be extended, or it results in more dead bodies," Philstar quoted Recto as saying in a media statement.
Recto called on the NDF to "take the high ground" with an NPA ceasefire.
"I believe government will have no choice but to respond positively. Peace has always been an irresistible proposition," he added.
Recto also called for a "typhoon truce" so the government and local communities can prepare for the typhoon season.
He said that the peace talks under the Duterte administration are off to an "auspicious start" and said parties should not waste the good will already generated between the government and the rebels.
The ceasefire that Duterte announced last Monday and binding only on government forces, was meant to pave the way for progress in the peace process with the CPP-NPA-NDF, including the resumption of formal peace talks in Norway.
Dureza has said talks will push through despite the incident.
Meanwhile, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the lifting of the government’s unilateral ceasefire is “unfortunate” and he hopes the talks will push through on August 20.
He called on both government (GPH) and the NDF “to thresh things out on the Davao del Norte incident and the ceasefire issues in the scheduled talks. More than ever, let us pursue earnestly the road to a just and lasting peace that our country and people have long waited for.”
For Pastor Dann Pantoja of the Peacebuilders’ Community, looks at the lifting of the ceasefire as “a missed opportunity” for both parties “to start anew in their peace talks based on good faith and mutual trust.’
He said it can also be a setback to the peace process.
Pantoja noted that the ceasefire was “an expression of an ‘all-out-good-faith’ and could have been reciprocated with an equal expression of good faith by the NDFP. But the NDFP seemed to have chosen the technical preconditions.”
Jeremy Simons, a peace and reconciliation advocate, said there is a limit to Duterte’s political capital with both the left and the military “to move the peace process forward on the ground where long time insurgency and counter insurgency dynamics prevail, especially lacking independent monitoring like a Bantay Ceasefire mechanism.”
“Also, there is a general misunderstanding of how fractured the leadership of ground level NPA commanders is, especially in Lumad communities where local tribal dynamics prevail,” Simons added.
“This is a challenge that all peace processes have to face. This is not insurmountable,” Kaloy Manlupig of Balay Mindanaw said, adding “successful peace processes have shown us that the search for common ground is not that easy, but not impossible to achieve.”
“There is hope,” he said, adding that, "In peace processes, it is not about brinkmanship. The one who blinks is considered a dove."
On Saturday evening, the largest ecumenical alliance of church federation leaders in the country has urged the communist rebel
group to declare a unilateral ceasefire as Philippine President Duterte had done on the part of the government.
The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) on Saturday evening, the group said: "It strongly encourages the NDF to reciprocate the gesture toward peace by also declaring a unilateral ceasefire to show a common commitment to establish the conditions for the resumption of the formal peace talks."
This comes as Duterte 5 pm deadline lapsed on Saturday for the CPP to reciprocate the government’s unilateral ceasefire.
The PEPP also urged both the government and the NDFP to continue the pursuit of peace. "They should not allow mistrust to deter or defeat this new beginning that is providing so much hope to our nation and people," it said.
PEPP said both parties to uphold their determination to continue the pursuit of peace, trusting that lasting peace is possible. They should not allow mistrust to deter or defeat this new beginning that is providing so much hope to our nation and people.
"Let our hearts be open to the understanding that we need each other in the pursuit of peace that is the fruit of trust and justice. Let us remain focused and steadfast in our endeavor. We urge all sides to dialogue on contentious issues that may come along the way."
Meanwhile, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said the first round of formal peace talks between government and the NDF will proceed as scheduled on August 20 to 27 even as President Duterte on Saturday lifted his six-day unilateral ceasefire.
“Let’s wait and see. But so far, as of the moment, there is no supervening factor that will affect the upcoming talks in Oslo on August 20,” Dureza told MindaNews an hour after Duterte lifted the ceasefire on Saturday.
Duterte spoke with Dureza after the presentation of the Peace Roadmap at the State Dining Room of the Malacañan Palace on July 18, 2016.
On Sunday, Dureza told ABS-CBN that the ceasefire with communist rebels will be discussed on Monday in a Cabinet meeting in Malacañan following a pronouncement by the CPP that it is ready to declare its own truce.
“Indeed, this is a welcome development. It affirms the value of the president's firm actions for peace. This is what we have been waiting for,” he said.
Dureza said there was “high expectation” that the NDF would immediately announce its own ceasefire after Duterte’s declaration.
“This was precisely the reason for the President's statement in the SONA that he was calling on and expecting the NDF to respond accordingly,” the presidential peace adviser said.
The NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Command had claimed that the government's unilateral ceasefire was "non-existent" and that the military was “sabotaging” the truce.
Officials previously said that the issues surrounding the ceasefire would not affect the resumption of the peace negotiations on Aug. 20 to 27 in Oslo, Norway.
The NPA has been waging an armed struggle against the government since the late 1960s. The rebellion, the only remaining communist insurgency in the region, has left more than 40,000 people dead. MGP News
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