Frustration grows over failed Philippine peace talks

Church groups in the Philippines once again called for the holding of peace negotiations between the government and communist rebels to end half a century of insurgency.

The call followed reports that both the government and the rebels had dismissed the possible resumption of stalled peace talks.

“Go back to the negotiating table and finish what you started,” read a unity statement signed by priests, nuns, and human rights activists.

“Unreasonable demands and pre-conditions can only delay the resumption of talks,” it added.

The government, however, blamed what it described as the rebels’ “flawed” peace terms for the failure of negotiations.

Lawyer Wilben Mayor, a spokesman of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, said any talks should only take place within the framework of the constitution.

He said the government has always been supportive of peace negotiations with the rebels, but “it must, first and foremost, adhere to the Philippine Constitution and the democratic process.”

Rebel peace consultants, meanwhile, warned that President Rodrigo Duterte’s insistence for a “one-on-one talk” with exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison is a “trap.”

Duterte earlier invited Sison, who is in exile in The Netherlands, to come to Manila for talks.

Jailed rebel consultants, however, questioned Duterte’s insistence on meeting Sison “without any real guarantees for his security.”

Sison has also branded Duterte’s invitation as a “lethal trap.”

Farm workers, meanwhile, said a series of recent calamities to have struck the country is another compelling reason for the resumption of peace negotiations.

“If the Duterte administration resumes peace talks, it can do many things to relieve [farmers] of their suffering,” said Ariel Casilao, vice chairman of the Federation of Agricultural Workers.

Duterte ended talks with the rebels in November 2018 and implemented what has been described as a “whole-of-the-nation” approach to ending insurgency.

The government program has resulted in a series of military and police operations that has killed many civilians and displaced thousands, critics say.

The rebels have always insisted on holding peace negotiations in a neutral third country. They said they do not want a repeat of failed negotiations in 1986-1987.

The negotiations in the Philippines from August 1986 to January 1987, exposed the identities of senior rebels making them military targets after the talks broke down.