The challenges of peace negotiations
Tempo.com | Our Times column by Susan Ople – The woman with a boyish hairstyle spoke with a soft, feminine voice, as she replied to tough questions asked by ANC Headstart anchor Karen Davila. It was an early weekday morning, and I decided that the vehicular battle zone known as EDSA could wait a few minutes more.
Within that timeframe, I was able to absorb the bigger picture involved in the peace negotiations with various rebel groups. I thought it was a candid and enlightening exchange of information, and I commend both Karen and her guest, President Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita “Ging” Deles for that illuminating conversation.
Days after that interview, Secretary Deles and government chief negotiators Alex Padilla and Marvic Leonen faced the media to discuss urgent matters concerning the ongoing peace talks. I was able to get a copy of the statement issued by Secretary Deles and shall now use this to focus on a single question: Why is peace so elusive in our country?
First, it is important to know that there are not just two rebel groups operating in the Philippines. The government is not talking peace with only the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the National Democratic Front. Based on the statement of Secretary Deles, the national government is engaged in six tables with five different groups. Why the discrepancy? It turned out that while the government was engaging in talks with the Rebolusyonaryong Partidong Manggagawang Pilipinas-Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP/RPA/ABB), this group had split into two factions, necessitating an additional negotiating table to accommodate both factions of a single group.
Complicated? Definitely! As the OPAPP statement said, and I quote:
“Only two of the six tables constitute negotiations towards a political settlement: that of the MILF and of the CPP/NPA/NDF, respectively. The rest of the other tables are engaged in conversations conversations that include some very hard talking regarding the full implementation of agreements already concluded and signed. These processes are ongoing with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA), and the RRPMP/RPA/ABB, a splinter group from the CPP/NPA/NDF, which, within the last five years further split into two thus, six tables with five groups.“
In Mindanao, three paths must converge into a permanent highway for peace: 1) successful negotiations with the MILF; 2) completion of the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF; and, 3) governance reforms for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Convergence at this point is difficult but not impossible. The cries for all-out war in the aftermath of the Al-Barka incident has waned and the government panel and the MILF panel have once again resumed the talks in Kuala Lumpur with an understanding that the International Monitoring Team in coordinating with the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities and the Ad Hoc Joint Action group shall conduct its own independent investigation.
Government peace talks with the CPP/NPA/NDF have reached a temporary impasse on the issue of its members directly involved in the peace negotiations that are eligible for a free pass under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees or JASIG. Meanwhile, the NPA continues to wage its own terror campaign in the countryside including coordinated raids on three mines operating in Claver, Surigao del Norte.
Despite all of these challenges, I believe that the government is right in not abandoning any of the six tables covered by a long history of peace talks. Walking away from civil conversations will shut the door on renegades and rebels who know in the deep recesses of their hearts the implausibility of shutting down government and bringing down the establishment through guns and tactical bombardments.
Unfortunately, all these senseless acts of violence and even betrayals sap our national energy and distract us from the more urgent battle of poverty alleviation. Insurgency is the short leash that keeps the country from sprinting ahead, alongside its neighbors.
It is inspiring to see a woman at the very helm of all these peace negotiations, dealing with both the military, and insurgents, and keeping always an open mind and a keen analytical eye on things that are happening around us and between us. We are all Filipinos, born and raised here. Sadly, some of us prefer to embrace the cold metal of guns and ammunitions rather than our own compatriots.
However, Secretary Deles as the government’s foremost peace advocate refuses to give up. “I see it as an opportunity that people are aware how we are left behind in our region of the world not because we do not have talented people, not because we do not have natural resources for development, but because we have been between and among ourselves difficult and untrusting of each other.“ Why talk peace to those who wish to overthrow the government? Because they never could, and as their brothers and sisters, we need to welcome them home once they accept truly and deeply that reality.
(Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com.) | Retrieved from Tempo.com
