Reply to Generals Rabunza and Coloma on the question of peace

Fr. Santiago "Sanny" Salas
Spokesperson in Eastern Visayas
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
March 12, 2003

The top brass of the military and police in Eastern Visayas are putting on a show by offering to talk peace with the revolutionary movement. They may have contrasting reasons for doing so. Apparently, the new 8th Infantry Divison Commander, Gen. Glenn Rabunza, wants to project himself as a magnanimous man in contrast with a mere bounty hunter like Gen. Dominguez, his predecessor. Meanwhile, Chief Supt. Dionisio Coloma is exhorting peace in seeming fear of losing his command again because of the PNP's inability to stop criminality and the successful NPA tactical offensives like the March 8 Calbiga Raid.

Generals Rabunza and Coloma know very well that the revolutionary movement as a matter of policy will only accept peace talks at the national level, with the NDFP representing the revolutionary forces. By trivializing this policy, Rabunza and Coloma are thus mocking the very idea of a just and lasting peace, a concern not only for Samar and Leyte but for the whole country. The two generals are being hypocritical as well in calling for peace while the forces they command wantonly violate human rights and international humanitarian law in their "counter-insurgency" and "peacekeeping" operations.

Yet Rabunza and Coloma are merely echoing the insincerity of the Arroyo regime regarding the peace process. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) has offered the NDFP a "final peace agreement" that essentially dictates the terms of surrender for the revolutionary forces. By insisting at the same time on a fast-tracked "single peace process", the GRP wishes to convert the process towards a just and lasting peace into a process that junks substantive agreements previously made with the NDFP. In complement, Generals Rabunza and Coloma are the supporting cast in the futile effort to pacify the struggling people and the advancing armed revolution.

The NDFP desires the continuation of the peace talks to discuss socio-economic reforms because the people are crying out for relief in the midst of severe crisis. For the government to pretend to be for peace but to impose its own terms is not only an insult to the NDFP. It is rubbing salt into the wounds of the people and all those who are struggling for genuine solutions to the deep-seated problems of the country but are deemed as "terrorists".

The government's current framework of surrender and the misportrayal of the NDFP as "terrorist" are unacceptable. The NDFP cannot negotiate with such bad faith shown by the GRP. An atmosphere conducive to the peace talks can be achieved only when the GRP withdraws its proposed "final peace agreement" and its tagging of the NDFP as "terrorist". It will be a betrayal of the people to accede to the government's terms or to stoop so low as to accommodate the cheap psywar of Generals Rabunza and Coloma in Eastern Visayas. The NDFP never tires of educating and inspiring the people to struggle for justice, freedom and democracy by publicizing the national democratic program and stand on various issues. With our trust in the people, the NDFP calls for the launching of various initiatives for genuine peace to bring the Arroyo regime back to the negotiating table. It is the people who can best convince the Arroyo regime to resume the peace negotiations.

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