Elusive, still

Not hidden, but not given emphasis among the statements made by government in calling for the now suspended peace talks with the Maoist communist umbrella, was President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration to give peace “another last chance.”

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza was specific in quoting the President’s order, saying: “Let’s give this another last chance,” when he gave instructions to drag the Maoist rebels to the table anew after he scrapped the earlier talks in November last year.

A LAST CHANCE and probably no more. And now, we are left hanging with another presidential declaration to postpone the talks for several days more.

That the President would soon declare itself ready to resume the talks is for us to guess, but for the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front, being projected as a fragmented umbrella that could not decide as a single, united voice, and with a leader whom Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenza claimed is “out of touch of reality and a spoiled brat,” no longer point to a successful conference, if there would be another.

Joma Sison, The Netherlands-based founding chairman of the CPP, expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the stand-down ceasefire and the resumption of talks.

The ceasefire was scheduled for Thursday while the formal talks were earlier set in Oslo, Norway on June 28.

Sison said it is “both disappointing and frustrating” that “Duterte has unilaterally cancelled” the schedules, further stating government is not interested in serious peace negotiations.

Then Sison declared: “…the revolutionary forces and the people have no choice but to single-mindedly wage the people’s war to achieve the national and social liberation of the Filipino people,” putting back his chips on the protracted people’s war he started in 1969 since he broke away from the old Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (formed in 1930).

The CPP-NPA grew in strength in the late 1970s and the early 1980s at the height of martial law, but Edsa once showed promise and chipped away from its leadership. An internal cleansing in the 1980s to the early 1990s resulted in the murder of many of their cadres, further breaking the groups into many splinters. This is very obvious now during street rallies and demonstrations that no longer match the numbers seen marching during the 1980s.

In the last presidential elections, groups under Maoist influence were also divided. Those in Luzon, including their party-list groups, supported defeated presidential candidate Grace Poe while those in Mindanao have thrown their support to Duterte.

Lorenzana knows where he could pounce in belittling the Maoist umbrella’s leadership and capabilities.

He said: “Your (Sison) so-called army no longer listens to you, they are sick and tired of your lies and rhetoric.”

Sources claim Mindanao Maoist rebels are governed independently from the Sison line.

In an earlier interview, former chief government negotiator Alex Padilla had said he thought none of the communist leaders participating in the talks had control over the CPP and the NPA.

“They don’t represent the right party,” he claimed.

Padilla also set the conditions set by Duterte are bound to fail. Duterte wants any bilateral ceasefire pact to have clear parameters or terms of reference, non-recognition of any territorial claims of the rebel group, a halt to extortion or collection of revolutionary taxes and the release of all prisoners held by the rebels.

Stopping the NPA’s collection of revolutionary taxes is a sore point in the negotiations.

Duterte also wants to hold the talks in the Philippines.

Sison wants a neutral venue and nominated Oslo, Norway and Vietnam as possible venues for the talks.

Duterte wants the peace talks deferred to a later date. Sison wants it to proceed as scheduled.

Padilla also said there are no prominent communist leaders on the ground other than those who are in The Netherlands for the talks, and that would make it difficult to implement agreements if there would be some.

Government, he said, does not know or has any of the second echelon of leaders it could proceed to talk to, in case those in The Netherlands would fail to commit.

There also seems a lack of sincerity from both parties to resolve the issues that would lead to real peace.