EDITORIAL - Undermining peace

How will it advance the peace process if communist rebels, ignoring repeated calls from President Duterte, attack three facilities of a private company right in his home city of Davao? The NPA raids last week on properties of Lapanday Foods Corp., with several company equipment and trucks torched, were also timed on the same day that the President was hosting the leaders’ summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.

Later on the same day, the NPA also attacked a police station in Maddela town in Quirino province, killing a policeman and seizing another although releasing him shortly. That has been another often repeated call of the President as his officials discuss peace with the rebels: stop killing and kidnapping soldiers and police. The last time he made the appeal, the rebels responded by announcing that they would end their unilateral ceasefire, and then killing six soldiers and kidnapping two others several days before lifting their truce.

An enraged Duterte scuttled the talks and branded the NPA a terrorist group, but later gave the rebels yet another chance at the peace table. This time, it’s his daughter Sara who has engaged the rebels in a word war, following the attacks in Davao where she is city mayor. The NPA accused Lapanday of wrongdoing, but a communist movement will always find fault in any company doing business in a capitalist environment. This can never be an excuse to terrorize people and conduct bombings and arson. A civilian was wounded when an improvised explosive device exploded at one of the Lapanday facilities.

The continuing attacks on private business interests, mostly those that refuse to give in to NPA fund-raising blackmail, also ignore repeated appeals from the President to end the rebels’ armed extortion. Among all the previous presidents, Duterte has been the most sympathetic to the communists, risking discontent in the military and even giving the rebels representation in his Cabinet. This has raised hopes that lasting peace with a group whose ideology has long been discredited may finally be possible under his watch. Instead of matching his gestures with appropriate goodwill, however, the rebels are going out of their way to show insincerity and undermine confidence in the peace process.