Mixed signals from gov’t on resuming peace talks

The state security forces apparently have paused their periodically repeated crowing that they could – through military means – end within this year the 55-year running armed conflict between the government and the Left revolutionary forces.

Opting for a negotiated peaceful resolution of the armed conflict once again is being considered instead.

Just the other day, presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. (a former AFP chief) told The STAR in a text message:

“We need to continue the dialogue [with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)] and remove the conditions that can stall our aspiration for the final peace agreement. I am very positive and confident that with mutual respect, goodwill and understanding, we can finally achieve a principled and peaceful ending of the armed conflict and be able to transform the lives of our people towards lasting peace and development.”

Galvez said that the exploratory talks between the two sides are still ongoing and what he referred to as a “mission statement” is being finalized. It’s not clear when the new exploratory talks began.

Recall that on Nov. 23, 2023, the government and the NDFP signed a joint statement in Oslo, Norway that they had agreed to return to peace negotiations. The signatories were Luis Jalandoni, the long-time former chief negotiator for the NDFP, and Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo, Special Assistant to the President, signing for the GRP.

After almost two years of discreet informal discussions in Oslo, facilitated by the Norwegian government, the two sides arrived at a consensus on the following:

• Cognizance of all serious socioeconomic and environmental issues and the foreign security threats facing the country and the need to unite as a nation to urgently address these challenges and resolve the reasons for the armed conflict;

• Principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict, resolving its roots and ending it “shall pave the way for the transformation of the CPP-NPA-NDFP;”

• Agreeing on the framework that sets the priority for the peace negotiations with the aim of achieving the relevant socioeconomic and political reforms towards a just and lasting peace and

• Such framework setting the parameters for the final peace agreement shall be agreed upon by both parties.

Last Wednesday, NDFP negotiating panel chairperson Julieta de Lima affirmed in a statement that the “ongoing talks between the two delegations are meant to come up with an agreed framework for the negotiations towards forging an agreement that will address the roots of the armed conflict.”

However, De Lima disclosed that during the past months the NDFP panel have observed “contradictory signals” emanating from the government officials speaking out on the prospects of the peace talks’ resumption under the current administration.

On the one hand, she said, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año (also a former AFP chief) had raised doubts about the peace talks being resumed. On the other hand, she noted, peace adviser Galvez exuded optimism that the two sides would resume the formal peace negotiations that former president Duterte had resumed with alacrity in August 2016, then backed away from in November 2017.

The NDFP peace panel head expressed hope that the contradictory stances on the government side be resolved in favor of resuming the formal peace negotiations. On the part of the NDFP, De Lima assured their readiness to sit down on the negotiating table to engage in meaningful discussions that could result in comprehensive agreements that would benefit the Filipino people.

It couldn’t be immediately determined what factor or factors pushed the government into a second round of exploratory talks. Had it been spurred by a sharp critique from a newly formed peace advocacy group in July that, during his first two years in Malacañang, Marcos Jr. remained silent on the issue of whether to continue the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations?

The group, called the Council of Leaders for Peace Initiatives (CLPI), issued a statement shortly before Marcos Jr.’s third State of the Nation Address. They manifested deep concern that his silence indicated a “return to the policy of all-out war… aimed at crushing the revolutionary movement.” They urged Marcos Jr. to make a “clear and unqualified commitment to pursue a peaceful, negotiated solution” towards attaining just and lasting peace.

The CLPI bluntly stated, “Indeed, in the wake of this [all-out-war] policy, grievous violations of human rights and international humanitarian law are the undeniable and unacceptable consequences.”

They then urged the current administration to resume the GRP-NDFP formal peace negotiations “without preconditions, on the basis of previously inked bilateral agreements and bolstered by confidence and trust-building measures from both parties.”

Furthermore, the CLPI asked Marcos Jr. to appoint the new members of the GRP negotiating panel and to release the NDFP peace consultants, who have been arrested and held in prisons, to enable them to do their designated roles in the negotiations.

To this day, nothing has been said or heard about any action on these requests.

Among the initial CLPI convenors were three bishops: Catholic Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu and Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, the national director of Caritas Philippines, and United Methodist Church Bishop Ruby-Nell Estrella. Prominent lawyers Antonio la Viña of Ateneo de Manila Observatory and Manuel Quibod, Ateneo de Davao College of Law dean, were also included among the 17 initial convenors comprised of personalities representing various institutions and sectors in the country.

Meantime, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, aerial bombings and displacement of communities and other human rights and international humanitarian law violations committed in the government’s counterinsurgency campaign have been recorded by Karapatan. Invariably, the human rights community, local and international, attributes these brutal acts to the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), calling for the latter’s abolition.

Still, the NTF-ELCAC has been adding more government agencies and offices into its roster of members. The latest recruit, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), is unsure of what it’s supposed to do. What really is the Marcos Jr. gameplan?