Trillanes wary of provisional liberty granted to communist leaders

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday expressed opposition to the provisional liberty granted by the Supreme Court to political prisoners allied with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA), saying it will be a "costly blunder later on."

"The provisional liberty granted to the CPP-NPA leaders will be a costly blunder later on," said Trillanes, a former Navy officer, in a text message to reporters. "The Duterte administration hasn't learned from history at all."

He noted that CCP founder Jose Maria Sison, who was pardoned during the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino, used his liberty to strengthen the CPP.

"If we could recall, Joma Sison himself was granted provisional liberty by Pres. Cory thinking that the communists were really sincere in pursuing peace after the fall of the Marcos regime. It turned out to be just their ploy to restrengthen their ranks," Trillanes said.

He added that the pardon allowed Sison to flee to the Netherlands "and then they relaunched their attacks against the government that led to thousands of soldiers and civilians killed."

"I am almost sure this will happen again," Trillanes said.

Trillanes was reacting to the decision of the Supreme Court to allow the temporary release of Randall B. Echanis and Vicente P. Ladlad in connection with resumption of the government's peace talks with the communist rebels later this month.

Senators Juan Edgardo Angara and Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, believe the decision was a gesture of goodwill on the government’s part and hope that it will be reciprocated by CPP-NPA and its political front, the National Democratic Front.

In a text message to GMA News Online, Angara expressed hope that the Left will reciprocate the move so that it “can lead to further deepening of understanding between the government and the Left. The time is really ripe.”

Gatchalian, in a separate text message, said, “This is part of the show of good faith in behalf of the government to the NDF. The NDF should reciprocate this with sincerely and expeditiously negotiate with the government. It’s time to end this senseless conflict."

For his part,  Sen. Joel Villanueva agreed that the decision was "a sign of good faith" and hoped that the release "contributes to the peace process between the national government and the NDF."

Sen. Francis Escudero, likewise, supported the high court's decision.

"It was the SolGen that opposed their release before. With the request, there is no longer any oppositor/opposition on record for the court to grant the provisional liberty in order to facilitate the peace talks," he said in a text message. —KBK, GMA News