What have the Norwegians got to do with our local business? They have pretty fjords and snowy mountains, but what the hell. The discussions should be held in Manila, not Oslo. After all, it's a local rebellion – not an international war.
Remember the last peace treaty which was forged in Oslo? It fell flat on its face. This was the peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Palestine’s Arab supporters. Where is that peace deal now? The Israelis and Palestinians are shooting at each other all over again, rocketing each other, and bringing heavy weaponry into play. The "peace process"? It’s kaput. The Israel-Palestinian "war" is escalating. Even from the viewpoint of being a peace venue, Oslo (I hope they won’t take offense) is jinxed.
It’s also wrong to fall into the trap laid by the rebels of agreeing, as they suggest, to a joint nationwide ceasefire. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must not be misled by her advisers, including former General and Congressman Eduardo Ermita and, Susmariosep, former Secretary of Justice and Solicitor General (Ramos-time) Silvestre "Bebot" Bello. Incidentally, don’t you think Bebot is the wrong choice to "negotiate" on behalf of the government with the NDF and NPA? In Davao, where he comes from, he used to be head of Bayan, a pro-NDF organization. Gee whiz. They didn’t even bother to vet Bebot for his former Leftwing connections.
A "truce" would enable them to go unhindered from barrio to barrio, town to town, city and province, openly recruiting new cadres, beefing up their forces, conducting teach-ins and distributing propaganda, and attracting new "converts." It would give the rebels a pause during which they can rest, train new "fighters" and rearm. It would give them an opportunity to move around populated areas to collect what they call "revolutionary" or "progressive taxes." (You know how the Communist insurgents collect taxes. They tell their victims, "pay up, or else!" Or else means termination with extreme prejudice. You can evade paying taxes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, but if you don’t cough up the money demanded by the NPA or the so-called proletarian rebel forces, it’s goodbye for you and your family, and some unmarked grave somewhere.)
Why give them a breather from being harassed and attacked by the Army and the PNP? They’ll only take advantage of it – then they’ll strike from ambush without declaring the "truce" over, scoring a deadly "victory", leaving our outposts and peaceful communities in ashes and ruins. Why deal with them "by the book" as if they were gentlemen to be trusted, when they’ve thrown the book away themselves? They are never guided by any rules of conduct or "honor." To a guerrilla, everything goes. They win by cunning what they can’t conquer by bullets. They prey on the gullibility of "the other side." Our democratic government and its leaders are their "enemy." Why give them quarter, when they give us none?
A "ceasefire" would be suicide for us. The late, great President (and former Defense Secretary) Ramon Magsaysay was the only one who defeated the Communist rebels, originally named the Hukbalahap, then the HMB (Hukbong Magpapalaya ng Bayan) or "People’s Liberation Army." Magsaysay did not crawl to them or beg for peace. He made them beg for peace. His policy was to offer them only two choices: "All-out friendship or all-out force." There was no in-between. If they surrendered, they were granted amnesty (unless guilty of murder, arson, or rape) and even given a parcel of land. (Some of those defending their lands in Mindanao from NPA attack or Moro rebels are the families of the former Huk "surrenderees" who benefitted from this deal). If they continued to attack the government, Magsaysay sent in his battalion combat teams (the renowned BCTs) or the Nenita "Death’s Head" unit of the late Col. Napoleon Valeriano – and crushed them.
His tactic was summarized in the Four F’s: Find ’em, Fool ‘em, Fight ‘em, Finish ‘em!
But these are twice-told tales. Have we learned nothing from them?
Magsaysay was not a brilliant man. He used to joke that he was a "mere mechanic" who had married the boss’s daughter. But he fixed what was wrong with our Republic. He succeeded where more intellectually "gifted" and prestigious leaders had failed: He mobilized everyone, rich and poor alike, to rally to his banner. The snobs, political dynasts, cynics and pseudo-intellectuals sneered at him for being an ignoramus, a grandstander, a showboater – a clown. He was all of those, but much more: he was a leader, overwhelming everyone with the tidal wave of his sincerity.
He called on Filipinos to give the best of themselves, and they responded with a magnificent shout that shook the rafters and echoed to the highest mountain-tops. I do not exaggerate. Unashamedly, many were proud to have themselves marked as "men of Magsaysay." For he inspired us. Even when he doublecrossed Luis Taruc, the Huk chieftain, by sending Ninoy Aquino and the late Senator Manny Manahan (two of his brightest lieutenants) to convince Taruc to surrender and promised him a "pardon", but instead slapped the Huk supremo in jail, he elicited understanding from Taruc – himself a sincere leader. It was Ninoy and Manahan, really, who were surprised and angered. "For many years," Ninoy used to tell me, "I had to look behind me, expecting a Huk assassination squad to zap me for my perfidy. In penance, I did everything to support and help educate Ka Luis’s son."
No, the angry Huks didn’t zap Ninoy. It was Marcos’ minions who finally got him. As for Ka Luis Taruc, he served out his sentence without bitterness, and continues to lead a dedicated and exemplary life, in peace.
As you can see, Magsaysay was generous and caring – but he was also relentless. What made him furious was injustice, the exploitation and degradation of the poor, the mistreatment of soldiers and – in particular – the widows and orphans of soldiers and Philippine Constabularymen slain in battle, and the sneaky maneuvers of corrupt politicians.
Once I found him in tears in his private sanctum in Malacañang. I asked him why. He replied: "There’s so much to do, and often I find I can’t do anything about problems, or I can’t find enough time to deal with them!"
Too soon, time ran out on him.
What about GMA? Is she using the time allotted to her wisely? Is she fighting as relentlessly as "The Guy", Monching Magsaysay did? Or is she compromising? Remember the Four F’s, President Arroyo: Find ‘em, Fool ‘em, Fight ‘em – Finish ‘em! There is no middle way. Don’t fall between the cracks.
But that’s what happens when the Arroyo government, following the inane examples set by the previous Cory, Ramos, and Estrada administrations, desperately sends emissaries to ask the Communist insurgents to make "peace." When you’re begging for peace, as everybody ought to know, you look like you’re the loser in the fight. Let our government hand down the terms, not the NDF or the NPA. And our position should be: Take it or leave it!
Sanamagan. The NDF and NPA should have been beaten long ago, but each succeeding administration demonstrated a lack of political will to do so. It was always a case of talk-talk, jaw-jaw, negotiate-negotiate. While we dithered, the NPA and rebel forces continued to recruit, proselytize, attack – and subvert. They infiltrated not only the labor unions (unionists were warned: cooperate or die!) but the government itself, with many Communists, their ideology merely thinly-disguised, rising to ranking positions.
No. It’s not a case of "the only good Communist is a dead Communist." However, how cleverly they weasel themselves into decision-making positions. They put on protective coloration. Some claim they’ve "reformed." There are a legion of "sleepers" ready to rise up and chip away at the stability of our democratic government anew.
Whenever somebody questions their moves, their favorite ploy is to shout that "McCarthyism" is in the air, or they plead harassment or "violation of human rights." We’re such suckers. We buy that line – everytime. As for them, you have to grant them an "A" for tenacity and effort.
If President Arroyo and her dispensation allow themselves to be led – gullibly – down the same garden path and seek to appease the NDF by freeing those 200 troublemakers and convicts, there will be no end to the grief that will be visited on our society. The judges and prosecutors, the soldiers and policemen (and their families) who nailed those vermin will be at risk from vendetta and retaliation. The hardships endured by our soldiers and policemen, the blood shed by their comrades, to capture those "prisoners" will go for naught. We will be setting 200 dangerous subversives and their contagion back into the bloodstream of our nation.
Former President Corazon C. Aquino and her wiseguys released Joma Sison, for instance (after he spent nine years in prison), and what did we get? More rebellion, more murders and ambushes, more pain. Now we’re negotiating with those like Joma, Jalandoni, and the rest who were set free – and they’re now demanding we accept the terms of our surrender.
And what’s this about releasing the two convicted killers of US Col. James Rowe (who was shot down in cold blood)? The murderers, Donato Continente and Juanito Itaas, must never be given any so-called "political pardon." There’s too much blood on their hands. They were twice convicted by the courts. The very thought of them going free makes many in the armed forces and the PNP want to vomit.
C’mon, Madam President. Stand firm. The rebels can be defeated and put to rout. But not if we "surrender" first. Jesus Christ! Every one of those convicts behind bars is worse than Barabbas!