BY DELFIN T. MALLARI, Jr. of Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 24, 2018

DTM: With the renewed exchanges of scathing diatribes between Duterte with his military and you and CPP-NPA and with his renewed order to demolish the communist rebel forces, that your cause has already lost its relevance, are there any rooms left for the revival of the peace negotiations? Is it still possible at this point?

But if Duterte’s intention is to really destroy the revolutionary forces because he believes that the reopening of the peace talks is now useless, why is it that he does not apply the JASIG provision on the termination of the negotiation to make it official? How do you look at it? What could be his reason? Gusto pa rin niyang ituloy ang peace talks?

JMS: I think that he finds it useful to terminate the peace negotiations with the NDFP, slander the CPP and NPA as terrorist, keep in reserve the explicit proclamation of nationwide martial law, escalate Oplan Kapayapaan and Oplan Tokhang and utilize Oplan Pacific-Eagle-Philippines as his means of intimidation and mass murder to ensure the railroading, ratification and enforcement of his pseudo-federal constitution for the sham legitimation of his fascist dictatorship.

He finds it useless to negotiate peace with the NDFP because that would be running counter to his scheme of fascist dictatorship and using the CPP and NPA as scapegoats for a nationwide martial law proclamation. He has not followed the requirement in JASIG to give to the NDFP a written notice of termination 30 days in advance obviously to show contempt for the NDFP and the entire revolutionary movement as well as the peace process and the agreements that it has produced.

There is little or no possibility that he has deliberately not given the said notice of termination to keep slightly open the possibility of peace negotiations in case of his dire need in the face of rising mass discontent and the surge of the armed revolution.

DTM: So, there is no more reason for you to believe that there is still hope for the reopening of the peace nego? That the slim chance is left only as Duterte’s selfish avenue for pacification.

JMS: When he decides to negotiate, the people and the revolutionaries represented by the NDFP will most likely find it useless and unnecessary to negotiate with him to serve his selfish and desperate ends. By then, the mass movement and the armed revolution shall have succeeded to isolate and put him on the verge of ouster. The CPP has already pronounced publicly that it is easier to fight for the ouster of Duterte than to obtain any peace agreement satisfactory to the people.