The Philippine State, Society
& Economy, 1992-1998

Jul 16, 92
Ramos's Military Past Casts
Shadow On Peace Efforts
By Ramon Isberto (IPS-Inter Press
Service/Global Information Network)

Philippine President Fidel Ramos has set the stage for peace talks with various rebel groups from left to right, but peace activists say he has to break with his military past if these initiatives are to make headway.

Now 64, Ramos is the first Filipino to win the presidency after a lifelong career in the military capped by stints as armed forces chief of staff and defense secretary under former president Corazon Aquino.

While Ramos' military background has sharpened his image as a decisive leader, it has not given him the look of a credible peacemaker.

The optimistic view is that the new president may yet surprise everyone and that his right-wing credentials may lead him to bolder initiatives toward finding a settlement to the many conflicts that plague this South-East Asian nation.

"The president is dead serious about peace talks and the left can't believe it," said Interior Secretary Rafael Slunan, whose job puts him in charge of the country's police forces.

But so far, Ramos seems to have stuck to the tough positions he took as Aquino's defence chief, when the military doggedly opposed efforts to bring the insurgents to the negotiating table.

"The position of Ramos has not changed," said a source involved in exploratory talks with the underground left. "He wants the same preconditions: the rebels must first lay down their arms. That may put a chill on things even before talks start."

The early signs seemed promising. A week after assuming office on June 30, Ramos designated emissaries to pursue exploratory talks with right-wing military rebels, the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) and the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

He put security and justice officials to work on an amnesty law for all rebel groups and signalled a willingness to call for a halt to the 23-year-old war between the government and the communist New People's Army (NPA).

A week later, however, Ramos seemed back on square one.

"How can we agree to general, total and unconditional amnesty while the rebels maintain their policy of armed struggle?" Ramos said in a television interview. "There must be that initial step (of renouncing violence)."

That stance has worried peace groups. "That's putting the cart before the horse," argued university professor Ma. Serena Diokno, who served in the government panel during the aborted 1986 peace talks with the NDF. "If you start with a demand for surrender, the talks will be still-born."

Added Ed Garcia of the Coalition for Peace (COPE): "Amnesty should be part of a peace process aimed at normalizing the country's political processes. This should include such things as the legalization of the Communist Party."

NDF officials have been vocal about fears the highly-publicized peace initiatives may be just a ploy to divide and weaken the insurgents.

"We're willing to talk, but there must be a substantive agenda that tackles the roots of conflict," said NDF vice chairperson Luis Jalandoni who is based in the Netherlands. "Localized peace talks aimed at simply getting the people to surrender are totally unacceptable."

Some analysts say the NDF's insistence on national-level talks and its hostility to local peace initiatives point to its feelings of vulnerability.

The communist movement has suffered political and military setbacks at home in recent years and military authorities have spoken with growing confidence that they can crush the insurgency in the near future.

But other analysts say the government stance betrays its own anxieties. "The people in government are not united. They seem to be keenly aware that Ramos is not a majority president," Diokno said. Ramos won less than 25 percent of the vote in a seven-cornered presidential race.

Meanwhile, some analysts say amnesty for rebel officers like cashiered Army Col. Gregorio Honasan may pose even more problems for the government. The possible reintegration of rebel officers into the military, for instance, may upset loyalist officers.

This seems to have prompted armed forces chief Gen. Lisandro Abadia to state publicly that rebels granted amnesty should not be given back their commissions.

Rather than pressing for amnesty, peace groups say government should pursue a step-by-step peace process starting with "confidence-building measures" -- like the release of some 600 political detainees. Said Garcia: "Peace . . .will have to be the product of a prolonged process."


Copyright © 1992 IPS-Inter Press Service/Global Information Network . All Rights Reserved.




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