Social justice

Some 2,000 NPA fighters, militia members and mass supporters have given up this year alone. This is good news if numbers are telling the truth. The President said that with more rebels surrendering, he hopes that the Armed Forces can quash the rebel group soon. 

The President lauded the joint efforts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and local government units for the increasing number of surrendering rebels.

I am seeing a strategy that may or may break if Duterte said surrendering rebels are given livelihood opportunities. “We are about to complete many in Davao City, we will have 1,000; in Tagum about 700. Then Surigao and in Zamboanga. Here in Bulacan we have also completed many units…It’s a matter of how to talk to them sincerely and if they want to surrender, they will have their own houses, then we can give them money in the transition.”

Rebel returnees can also be trained by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The country is in need of more skilled workers. There are construction jobs in Manila, Davao, and Cebu that have temporarily stopped because of the absence of skilled workers. This is a good opportunity for rebels whose lives have been tarnished by a wrong ideology for a long time. It is about time for a better future.

We can recall last year that Duterte on Nov. 23 signed Proclamation 30, ordering the termination of all peace negotiations and meetings with the rebel group after a series of attacks on military and police personnel. The government then fights back by means of dismantling their unified forces. Some people were saying that rather than spend money buying bullets or paying combat pay, cost-benefit analysis will say that giving house and lot and jobs and even allowance for a year to surrenderees are much cheaper than going to war against those terrorists. This is quite an effective method for now but in case the other party retaliates or acts as traitors, there is no way but for AFP to focus on military operation.

The only way the government will win is to provide social justice to the abused and exploited citizenry. You can fill their stomach but if fear is added, it will be useless. That is what the government is doing – to eradicate fear among them instilled by rebellious ideology from top to bottom. Unfortunately, some of their comrades are still violating peaceful means between the government and CPP-NDFP-NPA. 

I still believe that the government is open to settling the conflict with the NPA peacefully. But the NPAs should show sincerity and fully comply with a ceasefire once one is in place. – Jumel G. Estrañero, Defense Research Analyst and College Faculty