Atty. Alex Padilla,
Chair of the government peace panel during President Benigno Aquino’s time,
predicted that the peace talks that the Duterte government is having with the
communists will fail. He claims this is because the National Democratic Front
peace panel members talking with the
government do not represent the New Peoples Army. The NPA has been waging an
armed revolution for almost half a century.
But we predict
differently. We predict that the talks will succeed. Here are the reasons why:
Upon his assumption to office on June 30, 2017, Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte never departed from his hopes expressed during the campaign that he wanted the armed rebellion to end. In every occasion he addresses the public, he says, “I want to be known as the President of peace. I want the rebels to come down from the hills and enjoy lives of comfort with their loved ones.”
Upon his assumption to office on June 30, 2017, Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte never departed from his hopes expressed during the campaign that he wanted the armed rebellion to end. In every occasion he addresses the public, he says, “I want to be known as the President of peace. I want the rebels to come down from the hills and enjoy lives of comfort with their loved ones.”
Unlike Presidents
before him, Duterte, who self-identifies as a socialist/leftist had broken bread many times with communists
and fathoms their issues. He knows what the root cause of the armed conflict
is: the social injustice stemming from
inequitable distribution of wealth perpetuated by the oligarchic control
of the system. He recognizes that the armed struggle will
end if the root cause is addressed through socio-economic reforms. In this
respect, he and the NDF are on the same page.
Pres. Duterte's grasp of the real issues is coupled with a like-minded GRP panel made up of people who truly hanker for peace as the presence of justice. This is a great recipe for successful talks with the NDF. Thus, when Pres Duterte cancelled the peace talks last February, GRP peace panel members themselves knocked on heaven's door for resumption. In meetings of the GRP Reciprocal Working Group on Political and Constitutional Reforms (RWG-PCR) of which I am a member, no one ever questioned the sincerity and motives of the other side. I have information this is true of the other Groups.
The GRP peace panel,
on the one hand, and the NDF panel, on the other, mutually respect and trust each other. They
may argue a lot, disagree on matters,
and even threaten to, or actually stop talking to each other like family
members do. But they all believe that
the peace talks must keep going and reach their logical conclusion: the
end of hostilities and the guarantee there will be social justice. Talks must
go on even while there is fighting (although the two sides just signed an
interim ceasefire agreement).
On Padilla’s claim that the NDF does not represent the NPA, I cannot speak for the NDF and its relations with the NPA. But the NDF team seems totally committed to the peace process. The NDF gave assurance that the rebels would lay down their arms once guarantees are in place to confront and address the economic issues which form the radix of the armed conflict. If the GRP is forthright in its dealings with the NDF, it has to believe the claim. The NDF has yet to give reason for it to be dismissed as the boy who cried wolf.
On Padilla’s claim that the NDF does not represent the NPA, I cannot speak for the NDF and its relations with the NPA. But the NDF team seems totally committed to the peace process. The NDF gave assurance that the rebels would lay down their arms once guarantees are in place to confront and address the economic issues which form the radix of the armed conflict. If the GRP is forthright in its dealings with the NDF, it has to believe the claim. The NDF has yet to give reason for it to be dismissed as the boy who cried wolf.
The GRP panel headed
by Padilla is different from the current one which genuinely hopes for an end
to the armed struggle. GRP Panel Chair DOLE Sec. Silvestre “Bebot” Bello is no Padilla. Sec. Bello negotiates from a position of sincerity
believing that peace is possible. If you start your negotiation with the mindset
that the other party is only pulling your leg, you are in bad faith in agreeing to a talk.
You are insincere. If you do not believe the other party, why even think of
talking? It is a waste of time and money. It raises false hopes to the people
who want the armed rebellion to end. It raises false hopes for the countryside
where development has been stunted because it is the host of the armed
conflict.
It should be no wonder that Padilla's panel achieved
nothing. Maybe, he is now trying to justify why the peace talks between the GRP
panel he led and the NDF was a total
failure. But the truth is the failure in the past was the government’s
insincerity by which it was itself a peace saboteur.
So far, in just less
than a year, the peace talks leaped much, much farther than they ever have in
the past two decades. Substantial gains have been achieved. Padilla should not
douse ice-cold water. This might be the Filipino people's last chance for a
just and lasting peace. Let us all hope together.
Saboteurs and peace
spoilers must lay off. This is not about you. This is about the Filipino people
and their dream of just and lasting peace..
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