EDITORIAL- Beyond peace talks

Communist rebels are intensifying armed attacks and fund-raising extortion activities, and then saying the resumption of formal peace talks could curb the activities. This is called blackmail and President Aquino, according to reports, is in no mood to give in to it. In the past months he has shown little enthusiasm for resuming formal negotiations with a group whose ideology has been discredited and whose fighters have been reduced to banditry including the killing of non-combatant civilians.

If the government has no interest in reviving the formal peace talks, it should address the factors that drive people to support underground movements no matter how murky the ideology. In many cases, people embrace insurgencies because of social injustice; the communist movement was at its strongest during the Marcos dictatorship. In the country’s lawless areas, bearing arms, even if it requires membership in an outlawed group, can be reassuring. Some individuals also feel a twisted sense of empowerment in the knowledge that they can commit murder.

Rebel-infested areas are among the least developed and impoverished in this country, with investors staying away due to security concerns. If the government does not want to talk peace, it should be prepared to protect the public from atrocities perpetrated by the New People’s Army, such as the torching of private property and the recent deadly ambush on the convoy of Gingoog Mayor Ruth Guingona.

People must feel the benefits of economic development and social justice sufficiently so that outlawed groups will lose popular support. Communities will have to be enlisted in this effort. With credible leadership especially at the local level, this is not impossible to achieve. The best way to end an insurgency is to make it irrelevant.