The Manila Times

Restart confidence-building measures with NDF

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THE EXILED communist leadership represente­d by Jose Maria Sison has made one thing clear in The Manila Times’ two-part exclusive report written by our Chairman the rebel leaders have not closed the door to restarting peace negotiatio­ns with the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Following his recent interview with Sison in Utrecht, the Netherland­s, Dr. Ang reported that a breakthrou­gh could have been achieved in the peace negotiatio­ns if not for the moves of the defense and military establishm­ents to end the talks.

If Sison is to be believed, the Cabinet’s security cluster had convinced the President that a “military solution” to end the communist insurgency was more viable than talking peace and making political and economic concession­s with the rebels.

As a result, President Duterte canceled the resumption of peace negotiatio­ns with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippine­s (CPP), which was set on June 28, 2018.

The cancellati­on was supposed to pave the way for nationwide consultati­ons to engage the “bigger peace table,” meaning the public, and elicit more support for the peace process.

Today, four months later, both sides need to get real if they are serious in achieving long and lasting peace.

We have, in fact, not seen any honest-to-goodness nationwide public consultati­on held by either side of the table; this lends credibilit­y to the NDF’s earlier allegation that the announceme­nt of public consultati­ons was just a pretext to For the Cabinet security cluster, it should be clear by now number when asked during the interview, but another source quoted him as saying it could be between 9,900 and 13,200, It seems the strategy now involves arresting all rebel leaders tapped to become NDF consultant­s; on Monday, Adelberto If this strategy really worked, the NPA should have been leaders in the Philippine­s, were arrested in 2014.

The theory that Sison told Dr. Ang about the communist cause had a ring of truth to it :“Kai lang a nu bus in mun an ila

ang naghihirap; ” because hungry the half-century-old rebellion. Sison’s thesis is simple, and negotiatio­ns. Both sides have, in fact, reached a meeting of minds on agrarian reform and rural developmen­t, as well as and they could have proceeded to social and economic reforms if the talks resumed as scheduled in June.

What was going for the Duterte administra­tion was the introducti­on of federalism into the mix; Sison and his comrades, as Dr. Ang reports, see a political future under a new system of government. This is another opening that should be exploited.

Sison, however, needs to get real as well. What was left unaddresse­d in his one-on-one with our chairman emeritus was who had no qualms attacking military and police outposts and killing uniformed men in the middle of the peace talks. These bloody attacks had forced Duterte’s hand and drained trust levels on both sides.

The talks cannot be expected to resume posthaste given the stalemate. At this point, both sides should launch into rhetoric, and eventually reopen the backchanne­ls.

What needs to happen is for both sides to meet in the middle before any hardening of extreme positions becomes permanent.

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