It was just as well that President Rodrigo Duterte canceled for now the peace talks with the communists since they wanted to dictate not only the pace but the actual terms of the negotiations to the point that they want the government to bend over backwards and sideways for them.
For starters, not only did they want the release of all their comrades in arms from prison — a demand the Duterte administration responded to by allowing only those who are in their twilight years to be freed from detention — but their ultimate goal is to be granted belligerency status, which would make them in effect co-equal with the government in the eyes of the international community.
Trying to enumerate the thousand and one reasons for the eventual collapse of the peace talks would test the patience and the goodwill of any duly elected president, and despite being a Leftist,President Duterte realized he won’t be able to meet the demands of the communists without inviting dissent from the military, which had waged a protracted war with the Reds for decades and had been wary of a renewed push for peace after hearing the same demands from the rebels.
Exactly how much respect the President has for the sentiments of the military on the peace talks, one is hard-pressed to know, but his administration has so far been on an even keel with the military in the ongoing war on illegal drugs as he tapped them to augment the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) war while sidelining the police, which is undergoing a cleansing of the ranks in the wake of a Korean businessman’s abduction and murder.
What is surprising is the communists’ almost plaintive appeal to the Duterte administration to continue pursuing the peace talks in lieu of their more militant, defiant stance against previous administrations who canceled the peace talks with them.
In this instance, it’s almost as if they’re asking the Duterte administration at least on the surface not to hang up on them and to continue negotiations, presumably using back channels, which is always the road to resumption for the peace process for any party.
Regardless of what comes next, what is important is that the two sides never lose contact with each other and try to sustain the talks if only to keep the hopes for a just and lasting peace alive.
But the negotiations should come with concessions from both sides and not just the government, which remains elected due to popular vote, a fact that the communists cannot deny regardless if they do so until they’re blue in the face or red in the gills from too much shouting and marching in the streets and in the countryside.
For once, the communists should provide incentive for the continuation of the peace talks and not just through their demands nor their constant challenges to the government either by violence or by antiquated propaganda.
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