EDITORIAL - Forging peace with the rebels

Will the communist insurgency end with the demise of its founding leader, Jose Maria Sison?

That’s what former president Rodrigo Duterte openly expressed yesterday, in reaction to Sison’s death while in exile in the Netherlands. Duterte, a former socialist and avowed friend of Sison in their younger years, had proffered an olive branch to the communists at the start of his presidency, during which he also appointed several known left-leaning personalities to his government.

Every president since the 1986 people power revolt had explored peace with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front. Duterte said because of his background, he offered the best chance for lasting peace with the rebels, as he urged them to observe a cessation of hostilities against government forces. For a while the CPP-NDF responded positively. A series of encounters between the military and the New People’s Army, however, soured Duterte to the initiative.

Duterte eventually set up the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. Activists have accused the NTF-ELCAC of dangerous red-tagging and have called for its abolition. Congress, however, has approved a P10-billion budget for the task force, in an unequivocal expression of support for its work.

National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos has said she does not believe in red-tagging. She also said the insurgency is best addressed by confronting its roots and ramping up development and social justice efforts. Whether President Marcos agrees with Carlos’ views is unclear, but the loss of Sison can facilitate her recommended approach.

Social injustice and gross abuses by the state drive people to insurgencies. Ferdinand Marcos invoked the threat posed by the CPP-NPA as a key reason for his declaration of martial law in 1972. The oppression and state abuses under authoritarian rule, however, served as the biggest recruiter for the insurgency; the rebellion was at its strongest at the height of the martial law regime.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has not shown the same authoritarian bent as his father. But the President’s approach to the communist insurgency has yet to be clearly defined. The demise of Sison opens an opportunity for the President to craft a clearer strategy in forging lasting peace and ending the world’s longest running communist insurgency.