I am truly happy and excited, and not just about the unilateral ceasefire agreements declared this weekend by the New People’s Army upon recommendation by the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, and the government of the Philippines.
I am also optimistic about the state of the peace process, hopeful that we will have soon a permanent and just settlement of the civil conflict with the national democratic revolutionary movement. If El Salvador was able to do this—enter a peace settlement with their revolutionary movement Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front—20 years ago, and if Nepal succeeded in forging peace with its communist party 10 years or so ago, and if now, Colombia is about to conclude a peace agreement with the FARC, why can’t we do the same? The insurgencies in these countries were bloodier and more vicious. Their insurgent groups were/are more hard-line than our own.
If you are for human rights, including the current excesses, you have to be for the peace process with the Moro revolutionary movements (there is also excellent progress being made there) and the National Democratic Front. We should never forget that the bulk of recorded human rights violations committed by the Marcos dictatorship and all post-dictatorship governments were committed against the Moro peoples and against partisans and supporters of the national democratic revolution and in the name of the fight against Communism. If the current peace initiatives fail, it is likely that again it would be from these groups that majority of the victims will come from. We cannot let that happen.
In its peace strategy, I am completely with the Duterte government. It is good that the current head of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Secretary Jess Dureza, is a veteran and is trusted by all the parties. The negotiators he has picked are also excellent. Likewise, the NDF has gathered a solid group of comrades who will be able to close this deal. I congratulate everyone from the NDF and the government, including all the lawyers, judges and the Supreme Court, who worked hard to have all the detained NDF consultants make it to Oslo, Norway for the talks this week.
As they begin the negotiations, lessons from successful processes in other countries might be good. They tell us that peace is possible no matter how far we are from each other in positions and ideology.
Let us look into the case of Nepal. In 2006, the Nepalese Government and the Communist Party of Nepal inked the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, formally ending a 10-year armed insurgency which cost an estimated 19,000 casualties and around 100,000 to 150,000 displaced persons. Ten years earlier in 1996 the Maoist guerillas launched a rebellion to overthrow the Nepalese government. The government responded by imprisoning suspected rebels and journalists, prohibiting provocative statements especially against the monarchy, and shutting down newspapers. Well into the late first decade of the 21st century, intense fighting ensued between the opposing forces, punctuated by ceasefires and attempts at negotiations. The 2006 peace accord promised to end the conflict and bring about social, political and economic transformation to this small South Asian state. The accord included a stipulation that the king would be stripped of political rights and his property to be nationalized. Despite continuing struggles to entrench a fully functioning democracy, Nepal has been radically transformed since the 2006 peace pact.
El Salvador is another country where we can draw lessons in peace making. El Salvador also had to endure 12 years of intense fighting between the right-wing government and leftist FMLN. In 1992, President Alfredo Cristiani signed a peace accord with the leftists. This was followed two years later by the demobilization of the FMLN and its reconstitution as a political party. In the mid-1990s, FMLN became the second-largest political party in El Salvador. Before the peace agreement, El Salvador was a haven of authoritarian governments. Military repression and human rights abuses were rampant. The 1980s was a critical period for El Salvador. The FMLN was on the verge of winning the war when the United Nations and the United States stepped in. The civil war was bloody, causing around 75,000 casualties, mostly civilians. Because of the strategic stalemate, the two clashing forces decided to enter into a negotiated settlement. In 1992, a formal ceasefire, followed by demobilization, was initiated. The peace accord stipulated for political reforms, including reforms in the military and the police which were accused of perpetrating massive human rights violations. Social reforms were also introduced such as improving the quantity and legal status of the lands to the farmers. To date, high levels of unemployment and poverty continue to plague El Salvadoran society. But it cannot be argued that the peace accord of 1992 brought the war to an end and planted the seeds that institutionalized an incipient popular democracy in this small Latin American country.
Colombia is also one troubled country. The long-drawn rebellion by the Marxist guerillas known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has been going on for more than half a century, one of the longest even counting the Communist insurgency in the Philippines. Lately, after four years of negotiations, the Colombian government of President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC signed a ceasefire agreement to end more than 50 years of bloodletting. While a final peace agreement yet to be approved in a referendum, the agreement to end hostilities and FARC’s acceptance of disarmament are seen as historic in a war that has caused more than a quarter of a million deaths and in excess of 6 million people displaced.
The willingness to lay down arms and look for a peaceful solution to seemingly irreconcilable ideological differences are reasons why the Maoist insurgencies in El Salvador and Nepal have been finally resolved. Colombia is also on the road to peace. President Duterte’s reconciliatory tone towards the Communists and to the Moro rebels, an unmistakable olive branch offering, is a window of opportunity that can be the long-awaited breakthrough to a lasting peace. We cannot be disheartened by past failures because the experiences of El Salvador and Nepal, and now Colombia, will tell us that there is a way out of even the most intractable armed conflict.
My best wishes and prayers to everyone in Oslo and to those in the country, from the President in Malacañang to the soldiers and rebels in the mountains. We can get this done.