Random thoughts amid the din and drone

The advances and gains reached so far, as well as the on-and-off-the-table understandings and commitments in the peace negotiations—despite divergences in positions, difficulties and contradictions—and the crucial outstanding issues that may still be resolved anyway over time with mutual determination and principled negotiations, must be made known widely.

My naive view is: The parties (the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front), through their negotiators, have hitherto by and large demonstrated in varying degrees, and with distinct motivations, their readiness and willingness to discuss and negotiate the substantive agenda. And they have shown certain flexibility to meet halfway and to accept convergences even as they can remain firm, yet not obstinate, on certain issues or matters.

We must read carefully and closely their joint statements in Oslo and Rome and find out for ourselves these gains and advances, and how fast and close the parties have gone to endeavor a mutually acceptable and honorable agreement in the short and long term.

Then after a studied evaluation, we can appreciate all these and realize there is so much to gain in continuing the momentum rather than squandering what has been reached so far.

Also, we must listen intently, with an open mind, to all other sources of information and insights, rather than rely solely on either incomplete, inaccurate or selective information that fits a predesigned militarist solution or response to the roots of the armed conflict. Let us also listen to the reasons why a significant number of our countrymen continue to bear arms in arduous struggle to bring fundamental changes in society. here is a need not only to keep on talking but also to keep on listening.

Further, everyone should eventually realize that honoring commitments, fulfilling pledges and respecting solemn and binding bilateral agreements are the most principled gestures of good faith and enduring trust, which are necessary to continue negotiating with sincerity despite differences.

Finally and most importantly, identifying, addressing and resolving the roots of the armed conflict and their manifestations—continuing and vicious stark penury, massive injustice, widespread landlessness, chronic maldevelopment, deprivation of basic human needs and social services, asphyxiating foreign intervention and control, unscrupulous greed for self-serving power, unmitigated exploitation and oppression of the few by the many—are more than compelling reasons to come back to the negotiating table.

Resuming the peace talks without the indispensable requisite of safety and immunity guarantees as a matter of fair play for those who stuck out their necks, and without complying with solemn and binding bilateral agreements and commitments, will make the resumption of the talks extremely difficult and impracticable, if not impossible.

Keep on talking even when there is fighting. But keep on listening as well.

EDRE U. OLALIA, president, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, [email protected]