President right to call off peace talks, after NPA ambush
Fundamentally, the state has the right to self-preservation. It has the power to dispel any force or element that either threatens the peace and security of the general public or impedes the performance of these functions.
It should not allow any person or instrumentality to prevail over itself, especially upon the expense of the Filipino people.
With this in mind, I believe that in view of the ambush done by the NPA in North Cotabato, President Duterte’s calling off of the upcoming formal peace talks and possible signing of a bilateral ceasefire agreement is a good measure to assert the government’s power and dominance over the communist rebel group.
I am old enough to witness how the government has, time and again, given the NPA numerous chances to return, take the path of righteousness and advance its causes in keeping with the tenets of peace and lawfulness. And yet, time after time, these rebels chose the unscrupulous way, to the point where I don’t think they’re even fighting about something noble (as they claim) anymore! They don’t deserve yet another concession unless they can prove themselves worthy of the government’s consideration.
I really find it absurd that while they advance the idea of peace talks and agreement, here they are committing atrocities all around the country. I can’t believe so great a contradiction could exist for the longest period of time. Hence, when they ambushed the Presidential Security Group in North Cotabato, I knew I was reading nothing but “the same old story.”
TYRON JAY DAGUCAN,
