October symphony

HERE’S a history lesson about October, Russia and China turned to socialism in this month in 1917 and 1949, respectively.

A few days ahead of October here, something historic happened in Malacañang. Philippine communists arrived at the Palace last Monday.

No, it was not an invasion, or a declaration of victory, but an invitation from President Rodrigo Duterte. In the palace came the chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front Luis Jalandoni, together with NDF peace consultants to have a state dinner and discuss the ongoing peace talks that will resume this month.

To meet leaders of a different ideology that aims to change a political system, and to be able to talk and dine in one table is something never done by any president in the country before. In the past, communist leaders were called to Malacañang for a declaration of surrender (as in the time of Luis Taruc). Cory Aquino met Joma Sison after his release through general amnesty, but the talks with the NDF then broke down.

It’s only in recent history that the likes of MILF’s Murad Ebrahim set foot in the presidential palace for the signing of the peace agreement. But this one, the NDF, which is a bigger movement on a national scale, meeting eye-to-eye with the president, is unprecedented.

One may wonder how Duterte, who is bent on a waging a war on drugs, is taking a different path of peace on the five-decade old war that rages in the countryside?

There is more beyond the braggadocio of Duterte, and that is his astute handling on peace and armed conflict. He showed his grasp of history when talking of the Muslim Mindanao problem, by tracing the sins of colonization and the American-era massacres in Bud Dajo and Bud Bagsak.

With the NDF, Duterte has a history of dealing with the group long before he started his term as mayor in the 1980s. He remembered meetings of the “underground” in his late mother’s house during Martial Law. As mayor he has facilitated the release of captured soldiers and police officers. In the many times he was up there, he kept asking these questions: “We’ve been fighting for decades and what have we achieved? Why can’t we just talk?”

His is an idea that the government must always open the window to the “others” to know the problems that beset the nation. That has made him open the government to the progressive Left, who are now occupying key positions in agrarian reform, labor, and social welfare and even in the peace talks. It’s an understanding that even with different ideologies, the matter is to open one’s position to talk and achieve something for the common good.

This has never been done by past administrations, who view the Left as radical and could never consider sitting down with them for coffee. Duterte, though, said he belongs to the Left, the left he defines as someone against the oligarchs and long for change.

And that is the difference so far, in less than 100 days, we are talking more of peace. The October wind is here.