PHILIPPINES: The Emotional Calculus of Armed Conflict (tags)
HOW DO I TREAT THEE? Let me count the ways. Statistics from the AFP-PNP over a 33-year period (1978-2010) report an aggregate of 29,553 fatalities in the ongoing conflict between GPH and the CPP-NPA categorized thus: 13,412 Communists (45%), 8,264 military and police (28%) and 7,877 civilians (21%). This further translates into 80 deaths daily for the period: 36 Communists, 23 soldiers and police, and 21 civilians.
Philippine peace process gaining headway (tags)
Upon assuming office a year ago, President Benigno S. Aquino III declared that the government was ready to resume peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Communist National Democratic Front (NDF) without pre-condition and repeated it in his first State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA).
NDF-GPH CEASEFIRE ENDS, NDF COMMENDS NPA DISCIPLINE (tags)
The Pesante Buletin based in Los Angeles reported today that the NDFP in Mindanao salutes and congratulates all commands and units of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Mindanao and the rest of the country for its display of a high sense of political maturity, responsibility and military discipline during the mutually-declared seven-day ceasefire between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Philippines (GPH). Jorge Madlos, NDF-Mindanao spokesperson commended the NPA units in Southern Mindanao, in an act of goodwill and for humanitarian reasons, have released three prisoners-of-war (POWs) on separate occasions during the same period, further creating a more favourable atmosphere and bolster confidence for the peace negotiations and the entire peace process.