Two perspectives

Two friends of mine differ on the New People’s Army (NPA). The first one posted recently on his Facebook page the story that NPA rebels visited their farm somewhere outside of Mindanao. They sought to collect money from their harvest and warned them that their harvest facility would be burned down if they did not pay. This pissed off my friend, as they haven’t even harvested yet the farm produce and are already experiencing an “extortion” activity from these “friendly people.”

I would have wanted to ask him if the people they encountered were truly NPA rebels or posers, but our recent online skirmishes on political issues prevented me from doing so.

Another friend, who also has a farm, had a different story when we talked about meeting these rebels, who are also referred to as “nice people around.” He said the guerrillas talked with them and even advised his farmers to avoid areas where military operations are. He said NPA rebels would always ask permission to harvest some of the crops in their farm. They are unlike government soldiers, he said, who would pick up their crops at will.

Our talk drifted to the peace talks. He said President Duterte is doing good with his offer of peace to the rebels and hopes some positive things would be offered to the rebels.

My friends’ experiences paint two perspectives on this group that has been waging a five-decade war against the government and are now talking peace via the National Democratic Front (NDF).

One could view them the way the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana see them, as “hindrance to development” and as terrorists who burn equipment and buses.

Or one could see them as fighters who see injustice done to the farmers and lumads and are seeking to tilt the balance in favor of the poor.

That second perspective was echoed by the President when, as mayor of Davao City, he said the NPA is fighting because of “historical injustice.” He then asked the military what the decades-long fight against the communists has produced.

During the fourth round of the peace talks held recently, the government and NDF panels signed an interim joint ceasefire agreement to meet the President’s demand, which is actually meant to appease a restive military that has been conducting an all-out war all over the rural countryside.

The peace panels said the joint ceasefire will build an “enabling environment” of “goodwill and trust” to proceed to the next phase, which is to tackle the substantial agenda. They target the signing of a comprehensive agreement on socio-economic reform (Caser) within two years.

Both panels have agreed on the main points in the draft on agrarian reform and rural development, and are moving on to other points such as national industrialization. This agenda may be contentious, but without addressing the roots of the conflict-- poverty, landlessness, injustice, oligarchy and impunity -- the peace that the poor and my friend are wishing may not come soon.

Let us hope the Duterte government and the NPA fighters never lose this perspectives.