Peace window still open

President Duterte said the 60-day window for peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines remains open no matter the war of words with CPP founding chairperson Jose Maria Sison. But as to when the renegotiations resume is uncertain at this point.

“I don’t know the next step,” he said, while ruling out such conditions as a coalition government with the rebels and the extraction of so-called revolutionary taxes.

“But I do not (seek to) disarm them” as well, he quickly added.

According to the Chief Executive, force was the last thing in his mind but that he was prepared to sign a peace pact with Sison if the communist leader was up to it.

“If nothing happens, I tell you, prepare for war because this rebellion of the communist party will go on,” he said in a speech delivered in Matina, Davao City Saturday night.

He emphasized that the peace offer is time bound and extended on the basis that the communist rebels are in no position to demand anything as a precondition to negotiations.

“I no longer want to talk to you if I will just serve three years. After three years, when I’m no longer there, you will have to wait for another three years,” he told Sison while referencing part of the communist leader’s take on the President’s tenuos hold on political power.

Mr. Duterte previously ordered for a more thorough review of the peace terms the rebel group offered to government.

“When you sum it up, it boils down to power-sharing or coalition government which I cannot give to them because it is not within the power of the presidency to concede anything as important as authority. Hindi ko maibigay sa kanila (I cannot give that to them),” he said.

He called on Sison and the CPP-NPA to come to the peace table quickly or risk the rekindling of hostilities with government forces.

Apart from the communist insurgents, the President acknowledged that other peace pact with the Muslim insurgents who he said should also put down their arms and finding peace in Mindanao as proposed under the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“(Moro Islamic Liberation Front chair Al Haj) Murad (Ibrahim) is just biding his time, well and good. We hope that someday we can have peace at last,” he said.

He repeated his call for Sison to come home and dialogue with the government under the banner of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), a key agreement between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) extending immunity to rebel peace negotiators.

Unless Sison comes home and forge a peace agreement in an in-country dialogue with the government, then Sison and his rebels cannot possibly find peace.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and Secretary Jesus Dureza reiterated the President wants the rebels to stop the extraction of the revolutionary tax on business and individuals and bluntly ruled out Malacanang’s participation in any coalition government.

But he said peace arrangements may be pursued by local government units with insurgents in their respective areas of responsibility.

Dureza said President Duterte’s terms for a new round of peace talks with the communist rebels was forged in the wake of the command conference Malacanang convened just last week.