Palace orders probe on ‘closure agreement’ with Humiding CPLA group

BAGUIO CITY – President Aquino here Friday ordered the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process to immediately review the closure agreement Malacanang entered with the ArsenioHumiding faction of the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army to thresh out loopholes of the agreement for possible revisions to include other interested factions for the sake of the region’s peace and development.

During a late afternoon press conference at the Tree Top Adventure inside Camp John Hay, Aquino admitted he was not appropriately informed by his peace advisers that the remaining factions of the CPLA are strong enough to disrupt the implementation of the terms and conditions of the closure agreement since what reached him was that the faction represented by Humiding was the strongest of them and that the others are no longer material.

However, he quickly added if the issues being raised by the other CPLA factions are valid upon their evaluation, then Malacanang will not hesitate to sit down with them and negotiate the appropriate terms and conditions for the eventual signing of another closure agreement with them or to incorporate them in the earlier signed agreement last July 4, 2011.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines last week said it “verified” the legitimacy of the leadership of ArsenioHumiding, chairman of the Cordillera People's Liberation Army and ensured support for the armed group’s declaration of peace with the government.

“The CPLA is legitimately led by ArsenioHumiding, his group is what we recognize,” said Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (J3).

The CPLA, an armed group which split from the New People’s Army, signed the Mt. Data Peace Accord in September 1986 under the administration of the late President Corazon C. Aquino.

Mabanta rejected claims of other parties that they are the recognized CPLA, calling them "rogues."

"The CPLA has submitted a manifesto to us wherein all zone commanders pledged allegiance to the leadership of Chairman Humiding,” he said.

Humiding took his oath as CPLA Chairman on April 3 during the Cordillera Bodong Administration/CPLA Political Bureau Conference in Baguio City.

Mabanta issued support for the joint declaration of commitment for peace that the government and CPLA signed.

Mabanta, on his oath taking as AFP’s new operations chief, ensured the public with an appropriate execution of the new Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) also known as “Bayanihan” which is focused on the approach of “winning the peace.”

But Aquino said his administration is willing to listen to the plight of the displaced CPLA factions, thus, the direction is towards their conversion into a potent economic force that will help spur economic growth in the rural areas of the region instead of continuing the long overdue armed struggle that derails peace and development.

Earlier, Andres Ngao-I and Mike Suggyao, the supposed chairman and president of the CPLA, questioned the July 4, 2011 closure agreement signed by President Aquino to put an end to the 25-year old armed struggle and help the CPLA members to become potent economic forces in their respective communities through the provision of multi-million development projects in the region’s 57 identified CPLA stronghold areas.

Subsequently, the Regional Development Council in the Cordillera passed Resolution No. 75, series of 2011 requesting President Aquino to suspend the implementation of Executive Order (EO) No. 49 that mandated the implementation of the closure agreement between the government and the CPLA to prevent the escalation of intra and inter-tribal conflicts into uncontrollable incidents that could disrupt the peace and order situation in the region.

The Ngao-I and Suggyao and Molina factions of the CPLA are willing to talk with the Office of the President regarding whatever agreements to be achieved in the future relative to their conversion into a potent economic force but what they do not like was that non-existent CPLA members were made to get the credit of being able to sign the closure agreement with the Aquino administration.

Various sectors in the region are confident that Malacanang will be able to douse cold water in the brewing conflict between the CPLA factions so that all deserving members of the organization will benefit from whatever programs and projects will be given to them since their ultimate goal is for lasting peace and economic growth.