Hope against hope

WmillionsHO doesn’t want peace except perhaps arms manufacturers who make selling weapons of war? Most of us would most probably rather go for a peaceful yet progressive life with family and friends.

Thus, it was good to hear that President Duterte is open again towards re-starting peace talks with the CPP-NPA. With peace in Bangsamoro nearing realization, the news is certainly most welcome that the derailed peace train of the government and the CPP-NPA might be chugging along again.

In the same breath, however, I must admit to having my doubts that a win-win agreement would emerge from these talks. I pray to be wrong but here’s why.

One of the most tightly held dogmas of the CPP-NPA is that power can only come from “the barrel of a gun,” in other words, through armed revolution. The CPP-NPA, following Mao Tse Tung’s version, implements this through a protracted armed struggle starting from the countryside and eventually encircling the cities.

Because of this dogma, the CPP-NPA did not participate in the Edsa people power revolution. They simply do not believe that entrenched political power can be brought down without arms.

Possibly because of this dogma, they broke the first round of peace talks by resuming their armed incursions in the countryside. For how can you stop something that you firmly believe is the only way to gain political power?

Here comes President Duterte making it a condition for the resumption of peace talks that the NPA agree to a ceasefire. Will Joma Sison, for the sake and duration of the talks, set aside communism’s dogma of armed revolution?

But even if he does we are not out of the woods because of two strategic agenda the CPP-NPA is pursuing unflinchingly and with what appears to be an equally dogmatic determination.

The first is political. The CPP-NPA has its sights on a coalition government. But this, as Duterte has rightly said, government cannot hand over to them in a silver platter. They have to run for office and be properly elected as representatives of the marginalized sector they claim to be fighting for.

The second is economic. The land reform program of the CPP-NPA is designed to radically and comprehensively scuttle our feudal system of land ownership and production.

But precisely because it is so, I cannot see government (of, for, and by big landlords and big business) accepting it raw and untreated.

The big question is... will Joma Sison set aside dogma and agree to a ceasefire?

If he does, will he, for the sake of giving peace a chance, have it in him to come down a step or two from the dogmatic platforms of CPP-NPA’s political and economic agenda?

Dogmas do not shatter easily. We can really just hope against hope.

logical reasoning with proper verbal as well as written communication skills- a very basic but important requirement in top-level managerial positions.

We have always thought that males, probably because of their propensity towards alcohol consumption would have liver enzymes particularly the transaminases ( sGPT or serum pyruvate-alanine transaminases) high, but nowadays we notice that even females, especially those with NAFLD or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, come up with high or even higher levels of SGPT than their husbands.

In the market is Phosphokon which contains 300 mgs essential phospholipids. Its recommended use as a dietary supplement is to take one capsule a day or, based on the evaluation of your own family physician, the frequency may be increased. So, isn’t time let’s pay attention to what our livers are saying?

Cordillera school officials came to bid goodbye.

“Agawid kamin ta napasyar mi metten ti Mindanao (We’re going home as we’ve already visited Mindanao),” one of them told me. What was ironic was despite the presence of delegation officials, no one was there at the taekwondo venue where our coach had to present the medals of four of her wards following the protocol that the highest delegation official present would do the honor.

Time was when our athletes had to do with under- or over-sized uniforms, or running shirts that scratched and hurt the skin, giving credence to the suspicion that they were made of hard plastic material like “plastic abot-abot”.

Coverage then was far more stressful than today. Some officials were reluctant to let you peek into the results. Venues were not centralized that you had to daily commute to and from Gen. Santos City to Koronadal or from and to Naga City and Pili town in the Bicol Region. You had to wait for the national media to write and send their stories before you could have your turn on the limited typewriters, computers, fax machines and phone lines. There were no laptops then.

Of course it took me sometime to erase memory of the repeated failure of editors to use some of my daily dispatches despite their repeated assurances that they would wait for such late afternoon reports I had to mentally structure on the way to the typewriter from the field to meet the deadline.

More crucial than reporting the game and individual campaign results was assuring, through the daily broadcast reports, that the Cordillera athletes were individually and collectively safe and sound.

While on coverage, you meet people who, despite their lofty positions, treat you like a long-lost friend. We were preparing for home when a pick-up stopped by our school billeting quarters in Gen. Santos. Out came three security men with guns, followed by a diminutive yet authoritative figure who asked delegation officials where he could find me.

Before school supervisor Vic Panagan could figure out an answer, the man saw me. “Hindi ka makakaalis ng Mindanao kung di ka sasama sa amin,” boomed Manny Pinol. The seasoned sports writer and commentator was then the mayor of M’lang, Cotabato. He would later serve as governor of North Cotabato.

After the handshakes and hugs, Manny dipped his hands into the pick-up’s open rear flatbed and fished out a bunch of live chickens.

“Paki-pinikpikan n’yo ito at ipasyal ko muna ‘tong kapatid ko (Cook these the Igorot way and I’ll tour my brother around),” he advised Manong Vic.

“Ni, ammo na pay ti pinikpikan (Hey, he knows pinikpikan),” Mr. Panagan wondered aloud.