HE said — SHE said

“Its success would rely on many hands, including the fighters on the ground — both from the NPA and the military.

Rejection was evident in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) supposed statement of support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s newest order to resume peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

The AFP could not hide its contempt on the order, but good soldiers follow their Commander-in-Chief without a word. So, it’s on to the peace talks, no matter what.

But the AFP still wants a say on what government’s position should take when its emissaries talk with the Maoists — the President’s last card to peace, he said.

Marine Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, the AFP spokesman, said government should start the dialogue on a position of strength. Government’s peace panel will take a cue from this, of course. And this early, it will serve as an irritant between the opposing camps as it will send them back to Point Zero where they have failed.

Openly, however, Arevalo’s stand of support to the President’s wish of peace is unequivocal. What happens beyond the walls and the telephone lines are different from the parties’ public projections, though.

The CPP, through Jose Maria Sison, issued a friendly tune to the news, quite different from his stance against Duterte in the past few months.

He said he welcomes another try at peace. The question, however, is would both parties really work to attain it?

Mr. Duterte has two years or so to work on it. There is not enough time for him to achieve his peace plans even if he creates much leeway for the Reds to step into the mainstream.

Both parties have wasted opportunities before.

Mr. Duterte used to be the only city mayor of prominence to weave in and out of NPA camps. He was untouched as was Davao City.

Aboveground activists used to frolic in the streets of Duterte’s city.

Sightings of members of the underground movement are common on special occasions. They were left untouched, too.

After Duterte won the presidency via a landslide, he openly welcomed Left-leaning personalities in his Cabinet. Some of them served for long, until what Duterte declared as the collapse of the peace talks in March this year.

The President had his chance to forge peace then. But the conditions were not ripe from the start as the Reds had wanted a coalition government with Duterte.

The Chief Executive did not find this demand acceptable.

The military was also up in arms over that demand.

That the AFP now has a say over what Mr. Duterte should do is no longer surprising. The military holds the key to any leadership’s stability. The CPP-NPA could not demand for more than what Mr. Duterte could offer them.

The military is also not expected to give up an inch of its position. It is a stalemate between them from this point on.

But peace could be worked on. Both parties could agree to that.

The Government and the Reds have to start somewhere. It could be on Mr. Duterte’s mind when he ordered Labor Sec. Silvestre Bello to chase Joma in The Netherlands.

The President described his Labor pointman as a “commie,” his former friends will have to validate that, though. He could be effective in linking the two parties for a one, final push towards peace.

But its success would rely on many hands, including the fighters on the ground — both from the NPA and the military.

The CPP-NPA used the ceasefire that comes with the peace talks for an opportunity to heal its wounds. Its fighters need to recuperate, too.

The military also use the opportunity to spy on their foes while the talks are ongoing.

It’s the cycle that comes with the talks.

Cycles repeat. And it would take longer before another one comes if these talks fail.

In the run-up to Christmas celebrated by countless Filipinos since September, we have heard the word “peace” bandied about more than usual.

From the typical “world peace” we witnessed for one day as beautiful ladies from around the world showcased excellence and beauty in many ways, to the “peace on earth” melodies by Jose Mari Chan, it truly is the theme that rules this season.

The latest one has to do with the on-again, off-again peace talks between government and Communist rebels, as its leader Jose Maria Sison called for “goodwill measures” from the Philippine government before agreeing to the resumption of peace negotiations.

President Rodrigo Duterte, practically out of the blue, they say, brought up the matter of resuming peace talks during a briefing held at typhoon-ridden Bicol recently.

Perhaps the destructive “Tisoy” had left a reminder in its wake: for humans to get their act together at some point, just like we have to unite to fight the effects of climate change.

After all, it is not an easy thing to accept that a dying world is still populated by beings would rather kill each other first instead of helping one another bring Mother Earth back on her feet.

It’s not as if our own survival doesn’t depend on it.

Then again, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder seemed not too keen about holding such talks here, as President Rodrigo Duterte had suggested.

Now, however, it appears that the exiled leader sees a chance for it to happen, acknowledging in a recent report that resuming formal negotiations could be possible in Duterte’s time.

These negotiations had been going on for a few decades, beginning with President Corazon Aquino and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in 1986 holding talks that went pfft.

The NDFP, of which Joma is a consultant, is the political arm of the CPP.

His words early Monday sounded a lot like demands we have heard before, setting conditions for the party before they would even consider sitting down with government representatives.

In a TV interview, Joma said the NDFP “cannot agree to ‘(submit) itself to the control of the peace process by the regime and come under the control and surveillance of the military.’”

An assurance they would accept from government, based on his statements, is to release political prisoners “on humanitarian grounds” in light of the Christmas season and New Year.

Anyone can sense the horn-locking culmination from these words.

It is also just as obvious that the President is more intent on achieving the longed-for peace before he ends his term. The issue had always been one of his priority programs and seeing it end up just like it did in past administrations could really rankle.

His desire to leave a legacy can be deduced from the more lenient approach he seems to be taking, announcing recently, for example, that martial law would be lifted from Mindanao by the end of this year.

There is no doubt that a lot of rancor and negativity still pollutes the air between the rebels and government, but as many Filipinos believe now, there are bigger battles to fight in our time that need everyone’s cooperation.

The stubborn refusal from either parties to give an inch in any peace negotiations is reason for it not to prosper, as we have seen in this peace process designed to end a five-decade war that still flares now and then within our peaceable islands.