{"id":8572,"date":"2019-09-19T17:05:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T09:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=8572"},"modified":"2019-09-20T06:51:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T22:51:36","slug":"achieving-real-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/achieving-real-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Achieving real peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

The system is abusing the word \u201cpeace\u201d while refusing to take the\nnecessary steps to make it real<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeace negotiations, not all-out war,\u201d was the theme of a forum\nthat I and some workmates attended recently. It was organized by the Philippine\nEcumenical Peace Platform, Pilgrims for Peace, and Kapayapaan (Movement for a\njust and lasting peace). Bishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro discussed the\nrise and fall of peace talks between the Philippine government and the National\nDemocratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), while Dr. Judy Taguiwalo narrated\nthe state of human rights \u201cin the time of monsters\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also shared were messages from other peace advocates that\ncriticized the Duterte administration\u2019s authoritarianism: The anti-drug\noffensive has killed tens of thousands mostly poor. Martial law in Mindanao has\nentailed upped rights violations in the country\u2019s so-called food basket, and\nover one hundred thousand Maranaos are still unable to return home to their\npulverized city. Executive Order 70 (EO70) has institutionalized even more\nrights violations such as state-sponsored killings, arrests on trumped up\ncharges, forced evacuation and bombing of communities, harassment, and\nvilification against the basic sectors, activists and rights defenders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case of Negros island where farmers and their supporters from\nthe ranks of lawyers and local government are being massacred by state forces\nby virtue of their Oplan Sauron was underscored. This is in line with\nMemorandum Order 32, under which additional police and military forces were\ndeployed in Negros, Bicol and Samar \u201cto suppress lawless violence and acts of\nterror.\u201d According to Bishop Gerard Alimasa, the killings must stop and peace\ntalks should be held instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the roots of conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bishop was calling to choose a platform of dialogue over a\nmilitary approach. An arena of proposals and unity building no matter how\ndifficult, dialoguing can yield various parties\u2019 commitment to common\naspirations. The peace talks in the Philippines aimed to resolve the roots of\narmed conflict by forging agreements between government and the NDFP on the substantive\nagenda of human rights, social and economic reforms, and political and\nconstitutional reforms. It was through this that the Comprehensive Agreement on\nRespect for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) was crafted and signed\ntowards 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the current administration chose to end the peace negotiations\nlate last year, right when an agreement on social and economic reforms was\nabout to be forged. The comprehensive reforms include agrarian reform and rural\ndevelopment, national industrialization, upholding the rights of all working\nand indigenous people, environmental protection and economic independence. It\nwas like throwing a chance for painstakingly formed solutions to the country\u2019s\nsocial and economic problems out of the window \u2013 for what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War and deception<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After unilaterally terminating the national-level peace talks\ntackling comprehensive social and economic reforms, government directed all of\nits agencies to execute their respective EO70-abiding plans supposedly in order\nto \u201cend all insurgency\u201d. It now boasts of endeavoring towards \u201cinclusive peace\nand development\u201d by delivering social services straight to the communities or\non a local level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But poverty and inequality will persist as long as government\u2019s\nneoliberal, \u201cfree market\u201d national policy is not reoriented \u2013 this includes a\nregressive tax system, liberalization of agriculture and manufacturing,\nprivatization and deregulation of public utilities and goods, commercialization\nof services, labor flexibilization, and unequal economic ties with other\ncountries.  There are still 66 million\nFilipinos living on Php125 or less per day; majority of consumers have to pay\nconsumption taxes and are subject to user fees for water, electricity, and even\neducation, health and shelter; the share of agriculture in the economy is down\nto 8% and falling; manufacturing is mostly foreign-controlled;\ncontractualization remains rampant. Yet the oligarchs are getting richer no\nend, and government plans to allow foreigners to fully own the country\u2019s resources,\nservices, and utilities through Charter change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, led by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and\nthe Philippine National Police (PNP), government will also be \u201cnegotiating\npeace\u201d with so-called local dissidents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it continues to target marginalized sectors, activists, and\nadvocates, with an array of attacks ranging from vilification and harassment to\noutright killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, no amount of packaging can conceal the fact that\nstate-perpetrated attacks on rights asserters continue to escalate since\nPresident Duterte assumed office. Over 260 mostly peasants and indigenous\npeople have been extrajudicially killed, over 500 imprisoned on trumped-up\ncharges, and almost 380,000 forcibly evacuated from their resource-rich or\nprofit-potential abodes. These are on top of the 27,000 reportedly executed\nunder the anti-drug war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sugar-coating this bloody \u201cpeace and development\u201d drive attempts\nto make acceptable government\u2019s continuation and intensification of a failed business-biased\nframework. On the contrary however, all the deception, violence, and\naggravation of poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment, will only further\nstir social unrest. And drive up the volume of voices calling for a genuinely\njust and lasting peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just peace now<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I added my voice to this call through this composition, published by the League of Authors of Public Interest Songs (LAPIS) in 2016: https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/lapisphilippines\/kapayapaan-ngayon-na<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kapayapaan, Ngayon Na<\/em><\/strong>\/\/ O bayan\nkay tagal mo nang naghihinagpis\/ Problema ng kahirapan kay tagal nang tinitiis\/\nDukha\u2019t mayaman lumalaki ang agwat\/ Nasaan ang sinasabing pag-angat?\/\/ Walang\nlupa walang bahay walang trabaho\/ Walang pambayad sa eskwela, walang benepisyo\/\nKultura\u2019t kabuhayan, sinaklot na ng dayuhan\/ Dayong isip, dayong produkto at\npatakaran<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chorus \/ Kung posible ba\u2019t hindi gawin ang nararapat para sa\nbayan?\/ Sa lahat ng pagkakataon, dapat lamang tumugon\/ tayo na ang tutugon\/\nKapayapaan, ngayon na<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lupa sa magsasaka, sahod na sapat\/ Pagkain at tahanan, edukasyon\nat kalusugan\/ Pangarap na mamamaya\u2019y bumabangon\/ Makitang bayan ay totoong\nsumusulong (Chorus) \/\/ <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamamayang\nmalayang gumawa ng tama\/ Kalikasang inaaruga at sandigan sa pag-unlad\/ Bayang\nmay respeto sa buhay\/ Bayang busog at nagpapanday (Chorus)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo by Janess Ellao \/ Bulatlat<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The system is abusing the word \u201cpeace\u201d while refusing to take the necessary steps to make it real \u201cPeace negotiations, not all-out war,\u201d was the theme of a forum that I and some workmates attended recently. It was organized by the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform, Pilgrims for Peace, and Kapayapaan (Movement for a just and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-withbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1,2049],"tags":[1902,347,778,513,774,479,1463,2047,2071],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8577,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8572\/revisions\/8577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}