Security risk

The choice of Cabinet appointees in the incoming Duterte administration are an eclectic mix indeed with very few as surprising as the invitation by presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to assume not just one but four Cabinet posts.

The Departments of Agrarian Reform, Labor and Employment, Social Welfare and Development and Environment and Natural Resources were offered by Duterte on a silver platter to the communists, an unprecedented step seen as trying to jump-start the peace talks which had floundered since the ‘80s.

While everyone wants to talk peace, it’s how they define peace that matters. For the communists, it means nothing less than releasing all prisoners and reinstating the privileges of access to representatives of the National Democratic Front (NDF) among other demands.

Ever since the peace talks with the communists started with the first Aquino administration in the mid-‘80s, every administration has failed considerably in sustaining them mainly because the communists wanted to be accorded the status of belligerency.

A belligerency status means that they are treated as a separate political entity that is equal to government by the international community, a demand that administrations including the outgoing president found unacceptable.

With his offer, presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte opens the doors and makes them part of government bureaucracy. Though his advisers say that the posts don’t concern national security, there are some who don’t share their enthusiasm.

Chief among them is Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who as former defense minister, used the threat of communist rule to scare the populace and justify the martial law regime of the late president Ferdinand Marcos.

While welcoming the offer of Cabinet posts, the communists also warned that Enrile and other so-called “ultra rightists” are out to sabotage the peace talks between them and the Duterte administration.

Though the posts offered constitute no security risk at least on the surface, giving them four Cabinet posts without the reassurance of reciprocation shown by laying down their arms or at least a truce is a dangerous proposition altogether.

Enrile and other officials like Sen. Sonny Angara said these appointments won’t build the confidence of the business community but Duterte countered this and said it is their militancy that makes the communists suited for dealing with Big Business or the capitalists as they would describe them.

It’s still a long way to go before June 30, so it’s best for Filipinos to continually monitor developments and see if Duterte, who said he can work with the communists provided they recognize that “he is the government” can make it work.