The New People’s Army should surrender first their firearms as a precondition before Environment Secretary Regina Lopez could hire them to help her pursue her crackdown on mining, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said Monday.
At the sidelines of a news briefing in Malacañang, AFP spokesperson Restituto Padilla said that while the move “may give way to localized peace talks,” the NPA should first dispose their high-powered firearms before striking a deal with Lopez.
“If they wanted to help, they should lay down their arms,” Padilla said.
On Thursday last week, Lopez signified her willingness to work with the NPAs in Agusan province “to establish an Ecological, Economic and Educational (E3) zone in communities” around mining sites in the province—a move welcomed by Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison.
Lopez’s decision, however, met initial opposition from security forces, who asked the Environment chief to instead partner with “legitimate organizations and reliable partners” such as the military.
Padilla said that partnering with the NPA would only “pose danger to other citizens” if they will be left roaming around with firearms.
“Yes of course, because anyone who possess firearms pose danger to other citizens. There’s only a number of legitimate organizations who can bring firearms, and that is the military and the police. All else, it must be registered,” AFP spokesperson Restituto Padilla said.
“Do you think the NPA has registered firearms? I don’t think so,” he added.
The military spokesman said that they have already sent liaisons to work with the DENR on how to pursue operations in the heavily-mined provinces.
In the ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the reds, among the contentious issues left to be discussed are the issues on the cessation of hostilities and disposition of firearms.