For a while there, we thought that, with President Duterte revoking his declaration of a unilateral cease-fire, it would be back to the trenches for government forces and Maoist rebels, and the countryside would again reverberate with the beating of the drums of war.
Now, with the communist-led National Democratic Front saying they are willing to declare a simultaneous cease-fire on August 20 to coincide with the start of peace talks with the government, at least we know that all-out war is not in the horizon.
It’s been a roller-coaster ride in the past week as far as the peace process is concerned.
Even as President Duterte had made a surprising announcement in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 25 that he was declaring a unilateral cease-fire with the communist movement, the National Democratic Front (NDF) did not reciprocate the confidence-building move.
Soon after Mr. Duterte announced the unilateral cease-fire, Jose Ma. Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said in media interviews the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA)-NDF would respond to the offer of an olive branch “within the hour.” There was no response within the hour.
Instead, their response came a couple of days later, not to reciprocate the truce, but to raise the demand that the government should first release political prisoners, particularly those they claimed to be “peace consultants,” and that government troops be immediately withdrawn from areas where the NPA operates and sent back to the barracks.
On July 27 the NPA attacked a detachment of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) in Davao del Norte that led to the killing of a militiaman and the wounding of four others. The incident prompted President Duterte to ask the NDF to explain the incident, setting a deadline of 5 p.m. on Friday, July 29. When that deadline passed without any response from the NDF, Mr. Duterte extended the deadline to Saturday, July 30 at 5 p.m. When that extended deadline passed still without any response, President Duterte scuttled the unilateral cease-fire.
Sison called Mr. Duterte’s decision “hasty” as he claimed they were ready to agree to a cease-fire by 8 p.m. that same day.
“Volatility, lack of prudence in something as sensitive and delicate as peace negotiations between two armed fighting sides—it’s hard to agree with people who are quick to judgment,” the exiled communist leader said.
He added the CPP-NPA-NDF cannot be dictated upon by President Duterte and that “the revolutionary movement is treated as if it’s a servant of the new boss. That cannot be.”
Sison said, however, that despite this development, formal peace talks will resume as scheduled in Oslo, Norway, on August 20.
From where I sit, the Duterte administration appears to have already bent over backward to pave the way to restart the negotiations and put an end to nearly 50 years of fighting.
First, Mr. Duterte gave at least four nominees of the NDF positions in his Cabinet, two as secretaries of the departments of Social Welfare and Development, and of Agrarian Reform, another Leftist as chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, and still another as undersecretary in the Department of Labor.
Considering that the mainstream Left has never gone past beyond the stage of “strategic defensive” both in terms of political influence or military strength in the past 50 years, President Duterte’s offer of positions in his government to some of their leaders is already a big concession to them.
Second, Mr. Duterte appears willing to release the 500 or so political prisoners now in various jails as another confidence-building measure.
And third, the unilateral cease-fire would have provided an excellent opportunity for both sides to talk peace without bullets whizzing by in both directions, had it been reciprocated by the NDF earlier.
If we consider peace talks as a continuing process of give and take, it’s been one-sided all the way. For what has the NDF done to show sincerity and good faith, and promote a pleasant atmosphere for the political negotiations?
Just before President Duterte announced the unilateral cease-fire on July 25, the NPA held captive four off-duty policemen in Mindanao.
The NPA could have immediately released the four cops to show their willingness to go back to the negotiating table. They have not.
Neither have they said anything about stopping “revolutionary taxation” in areas where they operate as another proof of their sincerity in going to the negotiating table.
All they are saying is that, if the government agreed to social, economic and political reforms, then and only then can discussion on ending their armed rebellion be started.
And their attack on the militia detachment on July 27 is unfortunate, as it appears they have no control over their forces on the ground.
In short, the NDF has accepted every concession given by the government, yet, it has given nothing in return to show good faith and sincerity. In his inaugural speech, Mr. Duterte vowed to work for a “permanent and lasting peace” before he ends his term in 2022. “That is my goal, that is my dream,” he said in his Sona.
“All of us want peace, not the peace of the dead, but the peace of the living. We express our willingness and readiness to go to the negotiating table, and yet, we load our guns, fix our sights, pull the trigger. It is both ironic and tragic, and it is endless,” the President said.
“To the CPP-NPA-NDF, let us end these decades of ambuscades and skirmishes. We are going nowhere and it is getting bloodier by the day,” he added.
We fully agree with him on this, and hope that the communist rebellion that has led to the deaths of an estimated 30,000 people since the late 1960s would grind to a halt.
The way out of this quagmire is for both sides to go back to the negotiating table without any preconditions or demands, nor political one-upmanship.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.