EDITORIAL - Peace of the living

Stop the violence, and end the “decades of ambuscades” targeting government forces. Immediately.

The appeal was made by President Duterte to communist rebels, as he announced a unilateral ceasefire on the road to what he hoped would be lasting peace. In his first State of the Nation Address yesterday, the President told rebels that he wanted a “peace of the living” as he called for an “enabling environment” so lasting peace could be achieved before his term ends.

It wasn’t the first time that the President had called for an end to violent attacks staged by the communist New People’s Army as his administration prepares to revive formal peace negotiations with the rebels’ political arm, the National Democratic Front. But the NPA has continued its attacks in the past weeks, killing or detaining police and soldiers.

Duterte, a communist sympathizer in his younger days, has given the rebels a strong voice in his administration, appointing them to sensitive positions despite misgivings reportedly expressed by his security team. Part of a contemplated peace package is the grant of amnesty to those classified by the rebels as political prisoners.

In less than a month since taking office, President Duterte has done much in terms of confidence building to end the communist insurgency. The rebels, if they want peace rather than the overthrow of the democratic government and its replacement with a communist system, must respond with its own confidence-building gestures.

Last night the NDF said it was studying its next move as it welcomed the unilateral ceasefire. The President’s call for the NDF to “respond accordingly” will test whether the group has firm control over its forces on the ground, many of whom have been engaged in extortion and other forms of banditry that have little to do with any ideology.

“If we cannot love each other, let us not hate each other too much,” the President said. The rebels can do better than that, by heeding the President’s appeal for an end to their violent attacks, and committing to lasting peace.