Bad omen

Hopes were high following chief government negotiator Silvestre Bello 3rd’s announcement earlier this month that the fifth round of talks with communist rebels under the National Democratic Front (NDF) would resume in the middle of August. The talks were put on hold after the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) ordered offensives against the military in Mindanao to resist the imposition of martial law there following the terrorist attack in Marawi City in May.

Now that things have cooled down comes terrible news from North Cotabato: the ambush of members of the Presidential Security Group -- the President’s bodyguards -- by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels. Reports indicated that the PSG men were on their way to Cagayan de Oro City from Davao City, and stopped in Arakan town before reaching a checkpoint. It was manned by uniformed men, but they thought it was suspicious. Before the President’s guards knew it, they were exchanging gunfire with about 100 suspected fighters of the NPA, the CPP’s armed wing.