Waging peace without fear

“Make peace possible” has been the audacious aspiration of several generations of Filipinos. As a word war has erupted over the peace talks that seem to have ground to a halt after a promising start, we are once again confronted by the familiar drums of “all-out war.”

After years of endless efforts, we confront critical crossroads once again: Do both parties to the conflict simply shout, “Bring it on!” or do we reflect in a bold and chastened manner that will enable us to go back to the negotiating table without fear, and with humility and magnanimity?

Putting people at the heart of the process. The quest for peace has always seemed elusive. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that if peace throughout the land is to be just and durable, then the people must be put at the heart of the process. The Colombians who just recently forged a negotiated political settlement after 50 years of civil war coined an apt phrase that sums up the idea of putting people first: “meterle pueblo al proceso.”

In the peace negotiations involving the Philippine government, I would like to single out three priorities that could serve as guideposts in our marathon journey.

Taking the gun out of politics. Politics is the art of imperfect creation.  Experience tells us that in this field there are no perfect situations or solutions. It is for this reason that reaching consensus on policy questions and ways of governance requires a great deal of forbearance based on principles. But in the end, one thing is crystal clear: There is no place for guns in politics.

What we need to do then is to chart a new way of doing politics that will allow for a genuine debate on alternative paths and platforms offered to people.  By creating a more level playing field, patronage and personalities will become a diminishing factor in determining outcomes in political contests. This is how authentic democracy normally works.

Ending the culture of impunity. In conversations with those who have taken up arms, it emerged that a great majority have done so to seek redress for real or perceived grievances. Their experience of injustice and discrimination, in a sense, pushed them to seek justice through direct means.

For far too long, the basic rights of people in remote rural areas as well as urban poor settlements have not been respected and protected. The historic trends need to be reversed; that is why the “killing streets” and “alleys of death” that have become commonplace in our midst—as evidenced by Amnesty International’s report aptly titled “If you are poor, you are killed”—have no place in a country that aspires for enduring peace.

Improving the lives of the more vulnerable. In dealing with the twin challenges of poverty and inequality that underpin the root causes of the armed conflicts in the country, the late statesman Jose W. Diokno offered a nonnegotiable formula: “jobs and justice, food and freedom.”  He proposed a framework for socioeconomic inclusion to enable the great majority of our people to reap the rewards of an economy that are meant to benefit the more vulnerable.

In the current negotiations, it may not be possible to agree on each and every policy detail. What is important is to craft a roadmap that provides a far-sighted direction that puts in place the political economy of inclusion. In so doing, we make citizenship meaningful for Filipinos in every corner of the country.

Peace can indeed reign, not just in one part but in every part of the Philippines where the life of every citizen is valued, where people are placed at the heart of governance, and where the country’s future is truly better than its past.

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Prof. Ed Garcia served as a framer of the 1987 Constitution. He previously worked on peace processes in different countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America as an envoy of International Alert and as a researcher at Amnesty International. He taught at UP and Ateneo, and now works with scholar-athletes at FEU Diliman.