By Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
11 January 2020
Despite the over-all nationwide success of the reciprocal unilateral ceasefire agreement which occurred from December 23, 2019 to January 7, 2020, the Duterte regime has issued public statements that continue to terminate and prevent peace negotiations and render impossible the resumption of these between the duly-authorized panels of the GRP and NDFP.
Duterte has allowed his highest military statements to publicly oppose the resumption of peace negotiations. He denies the existence of the people’s democratic government and its territory in the guerrilla fronts if only to stress that he condones the violations of the recent ceasefire agreement by his armed minions and that he will continue his all-out war against the armed revolutionary movement of the people.
His highest military subordinates (Esperon, Lorenzana, Año, Galvez and Santos) have made utterances that they oppose the peace negotiations between the duly authorized representatives of the GRP and the NDFP and that they would rather continue the militarization and fascisation of the government and society under Executive Order No. 70.
They say that peace negotiations are not needed because they are already in the process of destroying the NPA before 2022. They boast that they are open only to surrender negotiations in a Philippine venue under their control. They claim to be satisfied with the psywar campaign of fake surrenders, fake encounters and persona nongrata declarations.
They also assert that the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system does not need any economic, social and political reforms to address the roots of the civil war and in any case the NDFP should not be allowed to share any credit for the adoption and implementation of any reform as a result of peace negotiations.
The Filipino people are supposed to be already living in an industrialized paradise without social injustices, massive unemployment, low incomes and rampant poverty. The treasonous, tyrannical, mass murdering, corrupt and mendacious Duterte regime is supposed to be solving all problems and rendering unnecessary peace negotiations.
In fact the ever worsening crisis of the domestic ruling system and that of the world capitalist system and the escalating conditions of oppression and exploitation are exceedingly favorable for the perseverance and further strengthening of the armed revolutionary movement of the Filipino people in their new democratic revolution for national and social liberation.
The Duterte regime is practically telling the oppressed and exploited masses of the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces (the NDFP, the CPP, the NPA and the local organs of political power ) that peace negotiations are impossible until the end of the regime and that they better be prepared for strategic defensive and tactical offensives against bigger onslaughts by their enemy.
The Filipino people’s armed revolutionary movement has rich experience and has accumulated victories in the course of overcoming the military campaigns of enemy regimes from Marcos to Duterte, including more than three years of the current regime. They can very well take advantage of the worsening crisis of the ruling system and the raging desire of the people for revolutionary change. They have gained strength by pursuing the new democratic revolution through protracted people’s war.###