ORLANDO P. CARVAJAL:

Opposite to win-win solutions, peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GOP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) should be aiming for an all-or-nothing position. By lifting their ceasefire because of GOP’s failure to meet a demand, the NPA, in effect, assumed that position. Release of all political prisoners should be an item in the final compromise agreement. By making it an absolute condition to a ceasefire, hence to the peace talks, the CPP-NPA sends a clear message that the release of all political prisoners is more important to them than giving the Filipino people’s dream of peace a chance.

Opposite to win-win solutions the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) should be aiming for is an all-or-nothing position. By lifting their ceasefire because of GPH’s failure to meet a demand the NPA in effect assumed that position.

Release of all political prisoners should be an item in the final compromise agreement. By making it an absolute condition to a ceasefire, hence to the peace talks, the CPP-NPA sends a clear message that the release of all political prisoners is more important to them than giving the Filipino people’s dream of peace a chance.

Common sense dictates that warring sides cannot be talking and fighting at the same time. Temporary cessation of hostilities or a bilateral ceasefire is a must if talks are to happen. Hence, there should be no absolute condition to the ceasefire needed for talks to happen.

In spite of the NPA’s gambit, CPP leaders are reported to still want the talks to continue. But how can that happen when they know that President Duterte is well within his rights and duties as president to lift the GPH’s own ceasefire in return?

Thus, I have great difficulty believing that the NPA lifted its ceasefire with clearance from Europe-based CPP big wigs. I cannot imagine that Jose Ma. Sison and Luis Jalandoni would keep the peace for millions of Filipinos hostage to the NPA’s demand for the release of all political prisoners.

Unless they are in bad faith or we are seeing a repeat of the bloody split in the eighties of the CPP-NPA into two factions and Europe-based CPP leaders are again not in full control of the NPA that presumably, by their continued existence, still adheres to that part of Marxist-Leninist theory that the only path to social reform is by way of a violent revolution.

If it is the latter case, this split in the CPP will render the road to peace with the NPA very rough in the same way that the nation is traversing a rough road to peace in Mindanao because Muslim rebels are split into the MNLF, MILF, BIFF, etc.

It is unfortunate that the peace talks are grinding to a halt. More unfortunate that the opposition is blaming it on the President’s temper when clearly it is a case of the NPA rejecting a ceasefire (a condition-sine-qua-non to peace talks) with an all-or-nothing demand. Hence, the peace talks can only continue and the President’s temper cooled if the NPA could be made by to agree to a ceasefire.

In an all-out war peace can only come after a decisive victory. But by then it would be too late to realize that in war there are no winners, only losers. At what price peace then if in the end Filipinos alone would pay for it?

It is unfortunate that the peace talks are grinding to a halt