Offer to Left ‘earth-moving’

The Inquirer’s May 17 banner story (“Duterte: 4 Cabinet posts open to Reds”) was earth-moving, favorable news for the Philippines’ extreme, radical Left—specifically, the Communist Party of the Philippines/National Democratic Front/New People’s Army.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s landslide election to the presidency, by all indications, is, indeed, providential. With the  mayor at the helm of the government after June 30, 2016, there is every chance that, for the first time in the turbulent history of our country and at a most crucial time, a true leader has arrived to steer a genuine government of the Filipino people, by the Filipino people and for the Filipino people.

The clearest sign that presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is reaching out to unite all Filipinos is the offer of peace not just to the Left but to the extreme Left—the CPP/NPA/NDF.

Duterte is offering the group the powerful posts of agrarian reform, labor, social welfare, and environment and natural resources. The CPP/NDF/ NPA  never had it so good before. For 30 years they have been carrying on a violent, bloody struggle to wrest control of the government, but they have never succeeded and never will they succeed. Their struggle has only resulted in countless deaths and suffering on both their side and government’s, without sparing civilians.

Barring reservations from nonsympathizers of the CPP/NDF/NPA, they should welcome and accept this magnanimous offer to them—to join the government.

To repeat, the powerful government positions now offered on a silver platter to the extreme Left should be a most welcome development for the CPP/NDF/NPA. As of this writing, the position of the CPP/NDF/NPA to the offer has not been clear. But, if they accept the offer, the first of its kind in 30 years, the insurgency can be put to an end, and the entire nation will be blessed to enjoy the benefits of true peace and untrammeled opportunities for prosperity.

Duterte, reportedly, was a student of exiled CPP head Jose Maria Sison at the Lyceum of the Philippines, one of the centers of student activism in the late 1960s through the 1970s. (I should know; I am a 1978 law graduate of the same institution.)

To conclude, Duterte, by the providence of the Unseen Hand, should understand the lifelong struggle of Jose Maria Sison; after all, as the latter’s student, he literally rubbed  elbows (and minds) with a great Filipino.

—JESUS L. GRAGEDA, retired RTC judge, Branch 4, Panabo City