Junk peace talks!

It’s time to stop all these back channeling by some officials to get yet another set of peace talks going, when it is fairly evident that peace talks between the government and the communist leaders are a waste of time.

Peace talks with the communists are really a waste of time, especially since it has become much too clear that the commies are never sincere about attaining peace in the country.

What the communists — especially their leaders abroad — want is power, something that will hardly happen, unless, of course, these rebels get the people behind them and succeed in ousting a popular president through a revolution which won’t happen.

In all these decades, instead of gaining ground, these commies and their leaders have lost not only a lot of ground, but also a whole lot of public support and sympathy.

As things stand, apparently these rebels living it up in exile want peace talks, but on their terms, such as ensuring a power-sharing deal with the current government, which is an impossible task.

President Duterte has made it clear that such a demand for power sharing between his regime and the commies through the formation of a coalition government will never happen.

But does Duterte really need to even entertain peace talks with the communist leaders, especially as he has become a target of the commie assassins?

His police have been effective in thwarting the latest assassination plot against Duterte by the communist’s armed group, the New People’s Army (NPA).

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año over the weekend pointed to the NPA’s loss of two of its claimed high-ranking leaders in a clash with government forces last week.

The two NPA leaders who were killed in an encounter were identified as Eleuterio Agmaliw and Freddie Daileg alias “Poldo.” They were killed in their safe house at Barangay Nagkaisang Nayon in Novaliches, Quezon City.

Agmaliw reportedly was an active member of the NPA Central Luzon Revolutionary Committee and a commanding officer of Kilusang Larangan Guerrilla Sierra Madre and KLG Caraballo. He is said to be behind extortions, bombings with the use of improvised explosive devices, arson and police ambushes.

Daileg reportedly was with the Central Luzon Revolutionary Committee.

“These NPA leaders are part of the special teams directed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to assassinate senior government officials that include the President,” Año was quoted as saying.

In a statement sent to media, Año said: “As I promised, we will get you (commies) first even before you get near us. There is no safe place for you in Metro Manila and in any urban center around the country.” He added that they might as well wave the white flag and surrender before it is too late.

But really, what do these communist leaders abroad get out of assassinating Duterte and his commie targeted officials? These rebels, said to be led by aging CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, certainly aren’t going to be in power and position — whether through an armed revolt or through the democratic process of election, which won’t ever happen since these commies and their leaders are just not popular with the Filipino people.

Not even the demand of the communist leaders in self-exile for power sharing is ever going to happen, under the Duterte presidency, or another elected Philippine president.

It always happens. These Sison communists hated then President Ferdinand Marcos, but they failed to eliminate him. They supported Cory Aquino, but peace talks never got them anywhere near getting into power. And they went about their business of killing people or extorting money from big businesses.

Some of these communists did get elected — but only through the partylist system where only a few hundred thousand votes could get these commies into the House of Representatives, where these communist partylisters got their pork barrel and probably used it to strengthen the armed rebels.

But even these few elected partylist commies, while above ground, were still out to destabilize the government.

Do they really believe that getting rid of Duterte and helping put a yellow president in power would get them anywhere near power and position?

Yet, it was under the Duterte regime that these communists were given even high positions in his administration, but it was clear that even as these rebels joined government, they were still openly against the policies of the President, as well as Duterte himself, and they even joined protest marches and demonstrations against the Chief Executive, too!

It’s time to stop all these back channeling by some officials to get yet another set of peace talks going, when it is fairly evident that peace talks between the government and the communist leaders — or even NPA leaders — are a waste of time.

Besides, despite the very long years of a Sison-led communist party, these commies are just no match for the government — not even the government under the Marcos dictatorship!