By RONALYN V. OLEA – Bulatlat
November 23, 2017

MANILA – An alliance of peace advocates deplored President Duterte’s unilateral and sudden cancellation of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

On Wednesday, Nov. 22, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza announced the cancellation of all planned meetings with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)/ New People’s Army (NPA)/National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which he said is “in line with President Duterte’s directive that there will be no more peace talks with them.”

Three days before, in his speech in Davao City, Duterte threatened to label the New People’s Army (NPA) as a “terrorist group composed of bunch of criminals.” Duterte further warned he would launch a crackdown on the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and other legal organizations for “conspiracy” with the communists.

Kapayapaan, an alliance of advocates for a just peace, said “these constitute a complete turnaround from his avowed policy of talking peace with the CPP-NPA-NDFP to end the close to five decades of armed conflict in the country by negotiating much-needed socio-economic and political reforms.”

In justifying the termination of talks, Dureza said, “Recent tragic and violent incidents all over the country committed by the communist rebels left the President with no other choice but to arrive at this decision.”

Kapayapaan said the continuing armed clashes between government forces and the CPP-NPA-NDF is all the more reason for both parties to return to the negotiating table.

“The quest for just peace is a complicated process that requires perseverance amidst difficulties, wisdom in handling disagreements and a sincerity to bring about significant reforms as the people demand. It cannot be solved with armed might and threats and actual harming of defenseless civilians, particularly activists and community leaders,” the group said.

In a separate statement, the NDFP committee tasked to propose socio-economic reforms expressed regret over the cancellation of meetings, which were supposed to start this week.

The NDFP Committee on Social and Economic Reforms (RWC-SER) said Duterte’s latest scuttling of the talks “comes at a time when unprecedented advances have already been achieved in forging agreements on urgently needed socio-economic reforms to alleviate mass poverty and resolve the roots of the armed conflict. “

Just four days before Duterte cancelled the talks anew, the bilateral teams of the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) RWCs-SER initialed draft documents reflecting substantial agreements on agrarian reform and rural development, and on national industrialization and economic development.

“The drafts include potentially significant reforms to benefit millions of Filipinos,” the NDFP RWC-SER said. “President Duterte bears full responsibility for the failure of the talks on social and economic reforms because of his sudden turn-around and heightened hostility to the revolutionary forces and the people.”

NDFP RWC-SER Chairperson Julieta de Lima in a discussion during the 3rd round of peace talks
held in Rome, Italy in January 2017 / Photo: JBustamante

NDFP Media Release
23 November 2017

By Julieta de Lima
Chairperson
NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Reciprocal Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms (RWC-SER) views with grave concern Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s sudden turn-about and unilateral cancellation anew of peace negotiations with the NDFP. It is the third time in six months that Pres. Duterte has obstructed the progress of the talks.

His latest scuttling of the talks comes at a time when unprecedented advances have already been achieved in forging agreements on urgently needed socio-economic reforms to alleviate mass poverty and resolve the roots of the armed conflict.

Just four days before Pres. Duterte cancelled the talks anew, the bilateral teams of the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) RWCs-SER initialed draft documents reflecting substantial agreements on agrarian reform and rural development, and on national industrialization and economic development. These were the result of a series of bilateral technical meetings by the NDFP and GRP RWCs-SER on October 26-27, November 9-11, and November 16-17.

The drafts include potentially significant reforms to benefit millions of Filipinos. These include the free distribution of land to tillers, farmers, farmworkers, agricultural workers and fisherfolks. Agrarian reform beneficiaries who have not yet been able to occupy the land awarded to them will be installed immediately, including those in contested lands and agricultural estates. The scope and coverage of agrarian reform will be expanded to include plantations and large-scale commercial farms covered by leasehold, joint venture, non-land transfer schemes like stock distribution option, and other such arrangements. There are also measures to prohibit and eliminate exploitative lending and trading practices.

The NDFP and GRP also agreed on the need for national industrialization and for planning to develop Filipino industrial capacity. Measures will be taken to ensure that foreign investments cease being one-sided and contribute to developing the national economy. Domestic industrialists and smaller enterprises will be protected and supported. The importance of nationalizing public utilities was affirmed. Both sides also agreed to identify key industries and priority industrial projects to jump-start industrialization. The importance of unions and workers’ councils was also acknowledged.

Further measures of even greater significance were set to be tackled. The GRP and NDFP RWCs-SER were optimistic that they would be able to complete the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) for signing by their respective negotiating panels and approval by their principals by January 2018.

The NDFP RWC-SER regrets the unilateral cancellation of talks on such vital social and economic reforms which, if implemented, would have immediately benefited tens of millions of oppressed and exploited Filipinos. The NDFP at the same time recognizes that the people’s continued daily struggles on these issues are unabated and, if anything, are made more urgent and will gain greater momentum. Pres. Duterte bears full responsibility for the failure of the talks on social and economic reforms because of his sudden turn-around and heightened hostility to the revolutionary forces and the people.###

Kodao Productions
November 22, 2017

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel said President Rodrigo Duterte has chosen to go against the people’s clamor for just peace in cancelling “planned meetings” between the Left and the Manila-based government.

Reacting to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) announcement of the cancellation earlier today, NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili told Kodao what was apparently cancelled are further meetings between the parties and not the peace negotiations itself.

“At any rate, the people are clamoring for a just peace and not the peace of the grave in the struggle for national and social liberation against foreign domination, landlordism and corruption,” Agcaoli said.

“The Duterte regime has chosen to go against such clamor. This is its own lookout,” he added.

In his announcement, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said there will be no peace negotiations until an “enabling environment conducive to a change in the government’s position becomes evident.”

“We will closely watch the developments,” Dureza said.

The GRP and the NDFP recently held bilateral technical meetings in the Philippines on social and economic reforms in their bid to finalize agrarian reform and rural development agreements.

The parties agreed to free land distribution to landless and poor farmers in Rome, Italy last January as part of their agrarian reform agreement package.

The formal peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Duterte government that started in August 2016 however failed to sustain its fast pace after their six-month long reciprocal unilateral ceasefire declarations were cancelled following complaints of violations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The scheduled fifth round of formal talks in The Netherlands last May also failed to start after the GRP failed to secure a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the NDFP. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

In this July 29, 2017 photo, President Duterte meets with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr.at the Malacañan Palace. (Presidential Photo)

MART D. SAMBALUD – Davao Today
Nov. 19, 2017

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – If President Rodrigo Duterte has a problem with the New People’s Army (NPA), this could be addressed through peace talks, a spokesperson of a progressive group said on Sunday, November 19.

Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), said that the resumption of the stalled peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the government is the “best” solution to all the issues that Duterte have with the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

“All the issues Duterte against the NPA are best addressed through the peace talks. He knows who he needs to talk to,” Reyes said.

Reyes’ issued a statement following Duterte’s pronouncement that he is no longer inclined to resume the peace talks with the communists while branding the NPA as “terrorists.”

On November 18, the President took a swipe against the NPA, hinting a possibility that peace talks may still be in limbo.

“I am tired of seeing properties destructed, equipment burned, and the killing of innocent people, and there’s even a four-month old (baby) involved,” Duterte said in Filipino, referring to the armed group’s atrocities.

When asked by a reporter about the slated resumption peace talks, he said: “No, I am not anymore inclined to.”

The President is also planning to issue a proclamation that would declare the NPA as criminals and not a legitimate rebels.

But Reyes said that Duterte’s orthodox style of tagging NPA as terrorists “would not accomplish anything, only intensified attacks on the people.”

He also responded to the President’s threats against Bayan and political dissenters.

“It is such a Marcosian mindset. Duterte’s threat of a crackdown is intended to eliminate the most effective resistance to fascist dictatorship, human rights abuses, anti-people economic impositions and increased US intervention,” he pointed out. (davaotoday.com)

JIGGER J. JERUSALEM – Davao Today
Nov. 06, 2017

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – A Catholic leader advised the government to push through with the peace negotiations with Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) instead of pursuing local peace talks undertaken by some local government units.

Aglipayan Bishop Felixberto Calang, co-convener of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), said “localized peace talks do not resolve the bigger picture.”

Calang said the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) should go back to the negotiating table and address the roots of the armed conflict.

“We understand that Davao City is home to the President, but in the peace talks the NDFP is into negotiation with the national government which represents a policy of inequality and oppression that bred armed revolutionary response from the people,” said Calang.

Calang’s statement came four days after the CPP rejected the idea of conducting localized peace talks between its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), and members of the newly-established Davao City Localized Peace Committee.

Apart from Davao City, Northern Samar also expressed its intent to mount a dialogue between the NPA, the Philippine Army, and the local government.

No substance

The CPP call these initiatives as a “divisive” measure by the government to push for the surrender of the NPA fighters without substantial reforms in place.

Calang, who was among the independent observers of the peace negotiations between the government and the NDFP said peace talks are supposed to be aimed at reforming, if not transforming “oppressive and exploitative systems.”

It can be recalled that President Duterte has ordered the government’s peace panelists to discontinue negotiating with their counterparts in the NDFP stalling the talks just as it reached the fifth round when the Parties are about to discuss on the table the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

Resumption of the peace negotiations with the Communists was one of the President’s agenda but was put on hold following the series of attacks carried out by the NPAs against government forces in the past few months following the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao.

Last week, Duterte said he is supporting the localized peace talks created by his daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as he urged the NPA to return to the fold of the law with promise of jobs and housing should the NPA fighters lay down their arms and surrender.

Calang said he is still optimistic that the peace negotiations between the government and the NDF will continue through political will.

“We hope the President combines this political will with the national government’s commitment to forge social and economic reforms which the people have long been struggling for,” Calang said. (with reports from Zea Io Ming C. Capistrano/davaotoday.com)

Zea Io Ming C. Capistrano – Davao Today
Nov. 04, 2017

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said efforts to conduct localized peace talks are bound to fail.

In a statement on Thursday, November 2, the CPP said the entire New People’s Army is united under its central leadership and all units of the NPAs “support the Negotiating Panel of the NDFP in its representation of all revolutionary forces” in negotiations with the government to forge agreements that seek to address the roots of the armed conflict.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte created the localized peace committee called Davao City Peace Committee or DC Peace to talk with local leaders of the NPA operating in Davao City.

In a press conference here on Tuesday night, October 31, President Rodrigo Duterte said he supports the localized peace talks initiated by his daughter. He also called on the NPAs to surrender to the government and promised them housing and livelihood.

“Mag-surrender na lang kayo ngayon at ibaba ninyo ang inyong baril o i-surrender ninyo (Just surrender now and lay down your firearms),” he said.

The CPP said they received reports that the military in the Eastern Visayas are also pushing for localized peace talks.

According to the CPP they are rejecting the idea of the localized peace talks and described the President as having “a very shallow appreciation” of the social problems in the country that causes the people to take up arms.

“The Duterte regime is wasting time and the people’s money in setting-up these useless local peace committees which will go nowhere and achieve nothing,” it said.

The CPP added localized peace talks are “mere rehashes of worn-out psywar surrender programs such as the ‘balik-baril program’ and the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) riding on the popular clamor for peace talks.”

Instead of pushing for localized talks, the CPP said the government should agree to resume the fifth round of the peace negotiations with the communists that was stalled since May this year. The fifth round of talks is set to discuss the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms which are described by Parties as the “heart and soul” of the negotiations.

The government refused to participate in the peace talks citing the continued offensives by the NPAs. (davaotoday.com)

Inday Espina Varona, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Oct 25 2017 08:59 AM

The senior peace adviser to the National Democratic Front peace panel urged President Rodrigo Duterte Tuesday night to drop “untenable” conditions for the resumption of peace talks.

“The NDF is willing to resume peace talks with any regime that seriously wants to resolve the roots of armed conflict,” Luis Jalandoni told ABS-CBN News.

“We have been informed of the possibilities, but have been told that it’s better to be quiet (on the details) for now,” the retired rebel peace panel chair said on the sidelines of a solidarity night for farmers at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

Last October 20, President Duterte hinted he is exploring the possible resumption of talks after months of threatening rebels and their supporters and accusing the militant Left of joining a conspiracy to unseat him from power.

But the President insists on a ceasefire between the Armed Forces and the New People’s Army (NPA) as negotiators hammer out an agreement on social and economic reforms.

“It’s not tenable,” Jalandoni warned.

“It’s clear to Duterte and to his advisers, and to (Labor Secretary and peace panel member Silvestre) Bello and the others. There cannot be such a thing as surrender, or a prolonged ceasefire without substantial inroads on basic social and economic issues. The NDF will never agree.”

Jalandoni stressed the NPA will not give up its arms.

The armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), he added, will assert the right to protect its territories and surrounding communities from attacks by state forces.

CLASHES AFTER MARTIAL LAW

The government cancelled the fifth round of talks in May as rebels stepped up offensives with the declaration of Mindanao-wide martial law.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) issued the order after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana included Asia’s oldest leftist insurgency as a target of martial law.

In July, Duterte warned he would abandon peace talks after a new spate of NPA actions and an exchange of rants with CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison. The President ordered around 20 NDF consultants released from detention for the talks to surrender or face arrest.

Since then clashes have erupted around the country, killing fighters from both sides, as well as civilians.
Thousands have also evacuated their homes due to military aerial bombardment.

In August, Duterte said any resumption of talks as a “waste of money.”

The President later warned that he was near to signing a formal termination notice, a required step in the conduct of negotiations.

Last week, however, Duterte acknowledged that talking to the New People’s Army (NPA) could help ease the country’s problems.
The President’s statement came a day after he met Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza and GRP chief negotiator the NDF Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. Both have refused to elaborate on Duterte’s remarks.

Jalandoni said the President’s change of heart could be linked to a series of national surveys showing grave concern over the killings in the drug war, a decline in the economy and discontent among the country’s poorest sectors.

IMPASSE

Despite the breakdown of talks, rebel and government negotiators have continued talking with the Norwegian government, the third-party mediator.

Norway announced Tuesday that it has appointed a new special envoy to the Philippine peace process.
Idun Tvedt, who replaces Elisabeth Slåttum, was a member of the facilitation team for peace process between the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or FARC.

Jalandoni told ABS-CBN News that finalizing the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) could build confidence and encourage the rebels’ mass base to consider a new ceasefire with clear safeguards for non-combatants.

Jalandoni also told farmers the best way to push peace talks is by strengthening campaigns that focus attention on grave issues.
“The fight at the grassroots [is] essential in pushing for meaningful peace talks,” he said in a short speech. “Your perseverance and courage give us inspiration. All of us take strength from you.”

Connie Ledesma, a member of the NDFP peace panel, pointed out that acceding to Duterte’s demands without substantial gains would mean “capitulation.”

The NPA and the Armed Forces have accused each other of breaking unilateral ceasefires.

Duterte rejects any rebel territorial claim and insists the AFP and the PNP have authority to maintain law and order anywhere in the country.

Jalandoni, however, said it would be unreasonable to expect the NPA to meekly accept AFP sweeps into guerrilla bases found in 71 provinces.

AFP Chief Eduardo Año, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and other military officers have been very vocal about plans to destroy the revolutionary movement, Jalandoni pointed out.

A few days before Duterte raised the possible resumption of peace talks, Año said the end of the four-month war in Marawi would allow the military to train its fire on the CPP-NPA.

In a speech before the Eastern Mindanao Command, Año said the AFP has recruited 300 indigenous fighters to fight against fellow Lumad believed to make up the bulk of the NPA in southern Philippines.

Año said the AFP also has 13,000 new members to meet the 2018 deadline to wipe out the rebellion that turns 50 next year.

Kodao Productions
October 21, 2017

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel said it remains open to resume formal peace negotiations with the Rodrigo Duterte government.

Reacting to Duterte’s statement Friday he still has to talk to the New People’s Army (NPA), NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili told Kodao the revolutionary movement is also open to reviving formal talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

The NPA is an allied organization of the NDFP.

“The NDFP has always been open to continue with the fifth round of the formal talks, which he scuttled in May 2017,” Agcaoili said.

Duterte hinted peace talks with the NDFP might soon be revived in a speech at Cagayan de Oro City’s Laguindingan International Airport Friday.

“Ideology ‘to. So I’m facing that. I have to talk to the NPA still,” Duterte said after ticking off a list of problems he said he is facing.

The Duterte GRP cancelled the fifth round of formal negotiations last May after failing to secure an open-ended bilateral ceasefire agreement with the NDFP.

The NDFP said the GRP demand was a precondition violating The Hague Joint Declaration that says cessation of hostilities shall come after social and economic as well as political and constitutional reforms agreements have already been agreed and signed by both parties.

Negotiators from both the NDFP and GRP said they are ready to sign agrarian reform and rural development agreements, including free distribution of at least one million hectares of land to poor farmers, when the fifth round of formal negotiations are finally held. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Kodao Productions
September 28, 2017

A National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiator urged President Rodrigo Duterte to resume formal peace negotiations if he wants to end civil war in the country.

In an interview, NDFP consultant Allan Jazmines said revolutionary groups would not agree to an open-ended bilateral ceasefire with the Duterte government unless it signs agreements on substantial reforms to benefit the Filipino people.

“If the peace talks resume and would be accelerated, it would end the civil war faster. Peace would happen after social and economic as well as political and constitutional reforms are signed and implemented,” Jazmines said.

Jazmines added that Duterte would only cause more trouble on his administrations if he pushes through with his threat to go after the New People’s Army (NPA) after the Marawi crisis is over.

“He is talking nonsense. The NPA is stronger, the revolution is stronger,” Jazmines said.

Duterte cancelled the fifth round of formal negotiations with the NDFP in The Netherlands last May after failing to force the Left into an open-ended bilateral ceasefire agreement.

Jazmines said NDFP and Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) negotiators were very close to signing Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) agreements before the cancellation.

The veteran negotiator said the GRP has already committed to distributing one million hectares over five years for free, which would include both public lands and property under private ownership.

“The parties are very close to inking the ARRD under the social and economic reforms agenda of the negotiations. For the first time, our farmers have hope. The details have already been threshed out. Duterte would be wasting all the hard work if he does not go back to the negotiating table,” Jazmines said.

Jazmines said such gains from the peace talks show the sincerity of the revolutionary forces in the negotiations.

The NPA would not fall into the trap of extended ceasefires without substantial reforms, he added.

“If the NPA and other revolutionary forces surrender or capitulate as Duterte wants, then goodbye to reforms the Filipino people demand. That is why we will never do it,” Jazmines said.

“Duterte should not allow himself to be influenced by the enemies of genuine social reforms. The military and the United States of America are pressuring him to choose war over the peace talks,” he added.

# (Raymund B. Villanueva)

IBON Foundation
For the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) 10th Anniversary Commemoration
September 16, 2017

Can peace be negotiated? In general, yes of course it can.

But to be more specific, can the steps to solving the roots of armed conflict be negotiated? Again, yes — which is not to say it will be easy. And after the talking the doing is another thing entirely.

Unpeace

It’s well-established that poverty, exploitation and oppression are the conditions that give rise to armed conflict. These conditions of course don’t fall from the sky and, especially in the modern era of the nation state, are the result of economic policies — meaning the whole superstructure of economic programs and laws. This superstructure is the product of tremendous effort over many decades. This has involved countless transactions by and between politicians, technocrats, oligarchs, landlords, foreign capital, foreign governments, multilateral agencies, and even the academe and civil society. There is so much lobbying, so many elections bought, so much technical work done, and also so many court decisions made. And also so much repression.

These economic policies are political choices by the government. They are arguably among the most political choices that the government makes because these are decisions about who gets what, when, and how — and so are decisions about how political power is used to create, keep, and concentrate wealth.

Choices

So the question at hand is: would peace talks of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) or whoever else be able to change those political choices? In principle, yes, but certainly not in themselves. At the negotiating table, how far can the GRP go beyond the social basis, political system, and class structure that resulted in those political choices to begin with?

Clearly, not very far. History has shown that the central task of the GRP is to protect the property and interests of the country’s elites and of the foreign powers that have such economic and geopolitical stakes in the Philippines.

This doesn’t change when they’re at the negotiating table for instance with the NDFP. More than seeking a just and lasting peace, their overriding mandate is just to protect the status quo that war disturbs. Yet in the case of the NDFP, people’s war doesn’t just disturb the status quo but challenges the status quo towards changing this for the better.

The absolute key to this is to change the parameters of those political choices. More specifically, it’s to change the political boundaries defining those economic policies.

The most potent challenge to the status quo is of course people’s war. It’s people’s war that brought the GRP to the table and, above and beyond this, it’s people’s war that will force the GRP to make concessions beyond the status quo. This is why the best kind of peace talks where the greatest gains can be made are those that are held on the threshold of an overthrow of the reactionary system.

But the country is not there yet and while the Philippine ruling system is challenged and shaken it remains in place.

Change

What social and economic reforms are then possible under current circumstances while such as the people’s war still strengthens and develops? What’s possible from the table and what’s possible outside this?

It’s always nice to have a friendly, open, or even progressive government or head of state. One that isn’t fascist, authoritarian, anti-poor, pro-rich, and pro-imperialist. But while any reform measures they give would be welcome it is unclear how much they can really give. Whatever these is will just be akin to a bonus.

For real change, it’s the mass movement that’s critical both when there are talks and also when there are no talks. It is critical for how much can be achieved over the table with peace negotiations, and for what will be achieved even when there is no one willing to negotiate. The stronger the challenge from the streets and the countryside then the greater the leverage of peace negotiators to achieve commitments beyond what the reactionary system willingly gives.

The Filipino people have long challenged the unjust social and economic system. Take for instance the Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya of the national minorities alliance Sandugo currently encamped in the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. The national minorities defend their communities against militarization and corporate plunder while also denouncing the Duterte administration’s rising fascism and United States (US) imperialist intervention.

They are an excellent example from among countless examples of the mass movement challenging the status quo in each and all of its reactionary aspects. Peasants struggling for land, workers for work and wages, youth for education, urban poor for housing, and more. All supporting each other and all seeking national industrialization and sovereign, democratic and sustainable development. All come together into among the most formidable forces for positive change in the country.

The mass movement is the bearer of demands for socioeconomic reforms, the defender of the people’s rights and welfare especially against the armed might of the state, and the organized force of the working class and the people in the struggle for radical social and economic change.

Because the mass movement is a vital expression of the political power of the people.

Progress

And such political power of the people is essential to pressing the social and economic reforms the country so urgently needs. If the reactionary state and ruling classes were willing to give this peaceably then there wouldn’t be armed conflict and peace talks to begin with.

The transformations needed in the economy are certainly radical from the point of view of the ruling elites. These elites will do everything they can to protect the income, wealth, and privileges they have spent decades amassing. But from the point of view of the people such transformations are all eminently rational. What are the key elements for this transformation? The NDFP’s proposal for a comprehensive agreement on social and economic reforms distills the hopes and aspirations of the people.

First, redistribution of property and fair division of income. This means real agrarian reform that distributes land to farmers for free and nationalization and Filipinization of the economy as needed. It also means higher wages and progressive taxes especially on the super-rich. And more.

Second, responsible government regulation of economic activity in the interests of the majority. This means striving for national industrialization and actively protecting, supporting and promoting Filipino enterprises. The government should use market-defying incentives while restricting capitalist exploitation and profiteering. Foreign investment in particular needs to be strictly regulated to genuinely contribute to national development, as all developed economies have done. And more.

Third, active government provision of social services and public utilities. These are not commodities to profit from with privatization. This means: free education, health care, and child services; affordable housing, water, electricity, transport and telecommunications; and a genuinely universal pension system which is non-contributory and tax-financed. And more.

Fourth, and lastly, reclaiming policy sovereignty. This means immediately reviewing all the international economic deals the country has entered into and amending, suspending or even terminating these as needed. The government must reclaim the crucial policy space that neoliberalism has taken away. And why should foreign monopoly capital be given equal rights as the government representing tens of millions people? The legal aberration of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) schemes have to be rejected.

Neoliberalism

Can peace be negotiated? Yes.

Can the steps to solving the roots of armed conflict be negotiated? Yes.

But first things first — to get anything out of the peace talks, we most of all have to make sure that the ruling elites are afraid and feel the rumble underfoot. The strength of the people especially of the mass movement expands what’s possible.

The challenge only grows today in our age of Dutertismo. The Duterte administration has been on a mounting frenzy of civil and political rights violations since coming to power and is apparently gearing up for even more. The most brazen is of course the violation of the right to life of reportedly some 14,000 Filipinos now. This comes on top of unremitting attacks on political activists and rural communities.

But, unfortunately less visibly, it has also been violating social, economic and cultural rights wholesale. The rights of tens of millions to work, decent work conditions, unionize, social protection, adequate standards of living, food, health, housing and education are violated daily.

Its growing authoritarianism is moreover being used for the wholesale neoliberal transformation of the economy — starting with the policies of its economic managers established in mid-2016, then with the laws it has been pushing with its captured supermajority in Congress since last year, and then most alarmingly through changing the Philippine Constitution in the coming months.

The changes the Duterte administration seeks in the Constitution will be the culmination of the four-decade long arc of neoliberalism in the country that started in 1987. The law of the land will be changed to institutionalize the domination of capital and the market over society and the people. Successful peace talks with the NDFP might have been able to avert that but we know how these turned out. Or could this still change?

These are indeed dangerous times. Alternating between the fog of drug war and the blinding spectacle of Dutertismo, a neoliberal economic and political order is being built. When the Duterte administration passes, and it certainly will come to pass sooner or later, the neoliberal order it built will remain.

We all know a just and lasting peace will come — but only because the people are fighting for it. See you all on September 21!

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