Send us peacemakers

Over the weekend, an unsigned manifesto supposedly issued by un-named “active members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines” (AFP)” was sent to the chat group of reporters covering the Department of National Defense (DND). It was purportedly an open letter to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) to “vehemently seek the earnest attention of our Commander-in-chief.” As casus belli, they denounced DND Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. whom they blamed for the June 17 incident at the Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Teodoro is targeted in this obvious divide and rule campaign for his being the strongest voice defending our sovereign rights at the WPS against the over reaching Beijing’s nine-dash maritime territorial claims at the South China Sea. While the authenticity of the manifesto could not be ascertained yet, the telltale signs are apparently aimed to silence Teodoro. A veteran politician, a lawyer by profession, and a returning Defense Secretary for the second time around, Teodoro is not one who buckles down to nameless and faceless enemies within and outside his circles of expertise.

The narratives in this manifesto painted the Defense Secretary as the culprit behind the latest attack on the Rotation and Resupply (RoRe) operation for the BRP Sierra Madre ditched at the Ayungin Shoal. The moribund battleship of the Philippine Navy, the BRP Sierra Madre serves as a military outpost at the Ayungin Shoal located within our country’s 200 exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the WPS.

In that RoRe mission, several China Coast Guard (CCG) militiamen from eight fastcraft boats and ships boarded one of our two Navy inflatable boats. Armed with axes, knives and bolos, the CCG militia succeeded in destroying one of our Navy inflatable boats. The CCG even tried to blind our WPS defenders using strobe lights. And the worse part of this incident, at least seven new rifles in the RORE were seized while one of our Navy officers lost a thumb.

So why not blame China instead of attacking our Defense Secretary?

Or is it another managed dis-information campaign from the other side? Which side? Your guess is as good as mine.

Meanwhile, un-named retired military and police generals are also reportedly not happy on the plans of the government to re-start peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF). But a retired AFP chief of staff whose last battle exploit was ending the Islamic extremist’s siege in Marawi in 2017 is not daunted to the push back against the revival of peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF.

Retired General Carlito Galvez Jr., head of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), has been waging a new war: to win the hearts and minds of all peace stakeholders, including his fellow retired men in uniform. Galvez believes former combatants like them in the military and police establishments are the first ones in wishing for an end to this decades-old communist insurgency problem in our country.

Except with the CPP-NPA-NDF, the Philippine government had already forged formal peace agreements with three other insurgent groups. Former President Joseph Estrada inked peace pact with the RPMP-RPA-ABB, or the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas-Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade. The late President Fidel Ramos signed formal peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Galvez first headed the OPAPRU during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte who continued the peace pact of the late President Benigno Simeon Aquino III on the Comprehensive Agreement with the Bangsamoro with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). When PBBM took office on June 30, 2022, he designated Galvez as “acting” Defense Secretary while Teodoro who run but lost in the senatorial elections was still covered by the one-year appointment ban.

The last attempt to forge a peace pact with the CPP-NPA-NDF was during the administration of ex-Pres. Duterte who decided to scuttle the peace negotiations taking place then in Oslo, Norway. Due to the continuing NPA armed attacks in the countryside, Mr. Duterte issued Proclamation 360 that terminated the peace talks on Nov. 23, 2017.  He subsequently signed Proclamation 273 that tagged the CPP-NPA as a “terror group” in December of the same year. The CPP-NPA has since then been listed as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

During our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last week, Galvez disclosed that our Department of Justice has already “de-listed” the CPP-NPA-NDF terror group following the latest round of Amnesty Proclamations issued by PBBM in March last year. However, Galvez conceded the CPP-NPA-NDF proscription in the US list of FTOs as another hurdle.

Galvez admitted the OPAPRU has sounded out the “rejectionists group” in the CPP-NPA-NDF for the possible resumption of peace talks with the government. This is the breakaway group from the late CPP chairman Jose “Joma” Sison who died in December 2022. PBBM has been enthusiastically supporting the various “transformation” programs of the OPAPRU for post-war life of rebel returnees and non-combatants or sympathizers of all rebel groups, Galvez pointed out.

Galvez disclosed the OPAPRU has been going around the country doing consultation talks with various peace stakeholders all the way down to the local government units (LGUs) and the civil society groups. Galvez is optimistic the administration of PBBM will be able to bring back on track the peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF, sooner than later.

“We are looking for a perfect timing,” Galvez declared. As to when this “perfect timing” will be, the OPAPRU chief turned philosophical: “If the people are all ready for the peace process. But for now, we are preparing for the conditions and preparing of transformation programs.”

Retired military generals – from the first OPAPRU head, the late ambassador Manuel T. Yan who is also an ex-AFP chief of staff like Galvez, have become the most enduring peacemakers. In this situation of brewing violence where fomenting lies and hate thrive, we pray to God to give us more peacemakers.