Wenceslao: End CPP rebellion in a snap?

Opinion piece in the Sun Star-Cebu (Jun 10): Wenceslao: End CPP rebellion in a snap? ( By Bong O. Wenceslao)

I WON'T blame the incoming administration of Rodrigo Duterte if it is agog about almost anything in the sun. Being outsiders still at this stage, it hasn’t seen the magnitude of the country’s problems. That’s why even before the president-elect could take his oath of office on June 30, he and his camp are already talking like there is no problem that they couldn’t solve. The latest is the appointed peace adviser Jesus Dureza talking about ending the decades-old rebellion led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) “as soon as possible.”

Talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP or NDF), which is representing the CPP-led rebellion in the peace negotiations, have stalled for the duration of the term of President Noynoy Aquino. This is not surprising because the NDF has issues against the Aquinos, starting from when PNoy’s mother Cory was president. But the peace negotiations have actually never taken flight for decades.

To say that the communist-led rebellion can be ended easily and in a snap via peace negotiations is to underplay the root causes of that rebellion and mistakenly view the CPP as an ordinary political organization. The rebellion’s goals transcends whatever kind of friendship Duterte has with CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison or whatever links he forged with the revolutionary forces in Mindanao. Also, Duterte and Sison are mere representatives of two entities, the GPH and the CPP, and are not the said entities themselves. They still need the approval from the entities they are representing to make the peace negotiations work.

I know how difficult it is to talk peace because I saw unfurl the negotiation at the local level that was initiated by the Cory government and the previous CPP leadership. In those talks, which opened in December 1986, the NDF was represented by a priest, Fr. Rustico Tan; a former seminarian, the late Jovito Plaza; and spokesperson Ruth Mercado. I think then Board Member Ferdinand Jakosalem was among the Cebu Provincial Government representatives to the talks.

At that time, even the attempt to settle down for the negotiation failed because of many outside forces dipping their fingers into the activity. Sadly, many of these outside forces didn’t want the talks to succeed. So they tried to derail the process at every turn. By January, it became obvious to the rebels that the talks weren’t going anywhere and that instead the security of their organization was compromised. The negotiators pulled out and the local peace talks broke down.

That was one of the reasons why when the talks reopened, only GPH and NDF representatives at the national level were involved. The other reason was about substance. The goal is not only to address everyday concerns, some of the at the local level, but to effect a change in the system where the root causes of the country’s problems are embedded. Meaning that the peace negotiation is mainly a national and not a local concern.

I don’t think that just because Duterte is the president the CPP and the NDF, would loosen up on its pursuit of its national and democratic goals. And how big is the concession that the government is willing to give to the rebels?

In this sense, peace negotiations between the GPH and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are far easier to consummate than talks between the GPH and NDF. With the NDF, the issues to be resolved are far more complicated. That is precisely why the government was on the verge of resolving the MILF problem last year via the failed Bangsamoro Basic Law while its talks with the NDF are still on square one.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/opinion/2016/06/10/wenceslao-end-cpp-rebellion-snap-478867