What started with a lot of goodwill, optimism and euphoria has now degenerated into an open war of words between President Duterte and Jose Maria Sison who are both trying to negotiate a peace deal to end the 48-year-old communist insurgency.
The President has basically accused Sison of cowardice for living in comfort in the Netherlands while his communist cadres are doing the fighting for him. He challenged Sison to come back to the country to personally lead the fighting as he is doing with his military troops and police personnel.
Sison responded by saying that he does not have to prove anything because he knows how to choose his battles. This may just be psychological warfare on the part of the President, but it does show the extreme difficulty of trying to make peace with a revolutionary movement like the CPP/NPA.
The President has just issued an order to the Chief of the Philippine National Police to go all out and destroy the CPP/NPA in the Island of Negros. This is easier said than done but shows the level of his frustration. We also do not know whether this order represents a permanent shift in policy to all-out war. One thing seems to be clear, the President cannot seem to make up his mind, whether to continue talking with the CPP/NPA in the face of their continuing attacks on government forces or fight until the CPP/NPA is finally defeated no matter how long it takes.
The President is clearly angered at what he believes is the treachery of the CPP/NPA. After all that he has done like releasing many jailed leaders and the appointment of many NDF leaders to his cabinet, he is not getting any reciprocal gestures from the other side. Instead, the CPP/NPA is intent on embarrassing him at every opportunity.
This is what is eating President Duterte. He is beginning to realize that making peace is a lot more complicated after all. Currently, the CPP/NPA has got the better of the government in the peace negotiations. The peace process has been going on since the administration of the late President Cory Aquino, yet not much has been achieved.
It was even during her administration that Joma Sison was released from detention. After his release, he wasted no time in regaining the active leadership of the CPP/NPA. Realizing that he will eventually be captured again or even killed in an encounter, he fled the country to the Netherlands where he lives in relative comfort with the support of the Dutch government to this day. Although his official designation is that of a consultant to the NDF, he is not fooling anyone because he is the top gun of the CPP/NPA.
One question that the government must answer before it starts to change its mind again and go back to the negotiating table is the admission coming from the NDF that it does not control all the communist forces on the ground. This question arose after a series of attacks on government forces in Mindanao and the Visayas resulting in many casualties. If this is the case, why should the government even bother talking to the NDF at all if it cannot guarantee compliance to any agreement? Is the government prepared to go ahead with the talks and just go after the small groups of independent local communist forces after an agreement is signed with the NDF?
It is a question that needs to be answered because the government appears to be letting the CPP/NPA have their cake and eat it, too. If allowed, the situation may develop like the peace deal with the MILF. Yes, we signed a peace deal with the major group but the government must still contend with other groups like the Maute group, IS, Abu Sayyaf and MNLF.
With this in mind, the government would be hard pressed to explain why it will sign a peace deal with the CPP/NPA unless our negotiators are so desperate to sign any agreement. Since trust seems to be lacking from both sides, perhaps the government should take advantage of the lull in the negotiations to go back to the drawing board to come up with a better game plan. The government must remember that it has been negotiating with the same group of people whose objectives have never changed since the time of the first Aquino administration.
The government on the other hand has had different panels every time a new administration takes over—a decided disadvantage when it comes to negotiations. Currently, the CPP/NPA has never been better than at any time in its struggle. They continue to collect their evolutionary taxes to support the lifestyle of their leaders and their own military operations. Some of their leaders are now high officials in government. Some are even in the inner sanctum of power in Malacañang. There are also others who are in the media trying to influence public opinion.
For all intents and purposes, the CPP/NPA leadership must be concluding that more than half the battle is won already and all that remains is a little more push and they would be in the Promised Land. But there is something that they have failed to accomplish and President Duterte is quite right on this. It is their failure to get one of their leaders elected to national office.
Let us continue to seek peace but not at any price. If the government decides to go back to the negotiating table, it should do so only after a thorough review of a negotiating position that it is prepared to defend at all costs.