Key players in peace talks between the government and the local communist movement have begun to call each other names over delayed negotiations to end the decades-old Maoist insurgency in the country.
The delay apparently stemmed from President Rodrigo Duterte proposing that the peace talks be held in the Philippines instead, not Norway, as originally agreed upon by the two sides.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Saturday called exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison a “spoiled brat” when Sison told his forces to renew their “people’s war” after Duterte made the proposal.
In a statement, Lorenzana said Sison is “out of touch with reality” when he ordered the members of CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to continue resisting the government.
“Mr Sison is acting like a spoiled brat, which he is, and proves that he is very out of touch with reality here.
“Instead of rationally talking with our (negotiating) panel to discuss how to move forward the resumption of the peace talks, he goes into tantrum(s) and orders the NPA to wage a people’s war,” the Defense secretary said.
More people from the NPA, according to Lorenzana, are surrendering now to the government and seeking help in reintegrating with mainstream society.
“They are sick and tired of your lies and rhetoric, and are in fact heeding the call of President Duterte to come down and live peaceful lives and they are doing just that,” he added.
Sison earlier said on the same day that the delay in the peace talks with the government is “unacceptable” and called Duterte “whimsical and foolish.”
Peace Process Adviser Jesus Dureza previously announced that the government had decided to delay the peace negotiations with the communist rebels, citing the need to consult the public first.
In cancelling the scheduled resumption of formal peace talks, Duterte and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are refusing to tread the path of peace as a way of addressing roots of the armed conflict, Sison said.
“What is clear is that Duterte is obsessed with waging all-out war against the people and talks of peace only as a way of inducing the surrender of the revolutionary forces through a prolonged ceasefire without resolving through concrete reforms such widespread problems of the people as rural poverty, hunger, joblessness, low wages, insecure jobs and others,” the communist leader added.
In being non-sensical and capricious, the President is unprepared in continuing the peace talks and “completely indifferent to the pressing issues of land reform, national industrialisation and overall economic development, issues which the Filipino people have long demanded,” Sison said.”
The delay, however, paves the way for the CPP and the NPA to become more resolute in waging war across the country “in order to defend the Filipino people against the assaults of the fascist regime,” he added.
“The (CPP) directs the NPA to continue to consolidate, strengthen and expand its ranks and its mass base across the country, rouse the people to fight their oppressors and exploiters, mount widespread tactical offensives targeting the worst of the AFP’s fascist units, as well as the ruling regime’s criminal and fascist cohorts, in order to frustrate the US-Duterte regime’s Oplan: Kapayapaan and its aim of crushing the people’s armed resistance this year,” Sison said.
In the Senate, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon also on Saturday said he agrees with the President’s proposal that the Philippines must be the venue of the next round of peace negotiations with the communist rebels. “I support the President’s decision. It’s about time that we change the venue of peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF) and it is about time that these take place on Philippine soil,” he said.
NDF is the National Democratic Front, an umbrella group that counts the CPP and the NPA as members. “The change of venue should not hinder the peace process,” according to Drilon, who once served as an adviser to the government’s peace panel.
While the Norwegian government has played a valuable role in the country’s peace process, he said, “the time has come for the Philippines and the CCP-NPA-NDF to talk among themselves.”
“The peace talks have always been held in an international ground but it did not seem to accelerate discussion. Let the real peace talks begin in a local arena. No third party this time,” Drilon added.
“Perhaps, it can accelerate discussions and both panels can finally come to an agreement,” the senator said. Drilon added that the Philippines hosting the peace negotiations can boost the confidence and sincerity of both parties in the peace process.
“The Philippine as the venue of the peace talks speaks volumes (about) government’s sincerity to end the decades-long armed struggle with the rebels,” he said.
By agreeing to hold the peace talks in the country, the communist groups will be able to show that “it has truly agreed to recognise the legitimacy of the government as the duly-constituted authority,” Drilon added.
He said there is no reason for the communist rebels to reject the President’s proposal because the latter is truly sincere in the peace talks. “We will never achieve a true and lasting peace if the CPP-NPA-NDF, after a series of peace negotiations that took place, would still say they do not recognize the legitimacy of the government,” Drilon added.
“It is about time that they show they really do. Go to the Philippines and let’s talk peace,” he said. Duterte terminated the peace talks between the government and the communist rebels last year, citing the latter’s lack of sincerity.
Later on, he tagged the communist rebels as “terrorists.”
President Rodrigo Duterte
