A very short ceasefire?

President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday took back his pronouncement of a ceasefire vis-à-vis the CPP-NPA-NDF. This was a mere five days after declaring it in his first State of the Nation Address.

Duterte expressed irritation when a member of the Cafgu was killed in an encounter with the NPA in Mindanao after his SONA speech. After the death, he gave the CPP until 5 p.m. of Saturday for their side to declare their own ceasefire conduct.

The CPP pleaded with Duterte not to rush things, reasoning that the government itself was only able to effectively operationalize the ceasefire a few days after Duterte's declaration of it. But when the CPP was not able to meet Duterte's 5 p.m. deadline, the president acted on his ultimatum.

Something is wrong here. There is no reason to doubt the CPP's statement that it were the state forces that were violating the ceasefire and that the NPA acted only in self defense. The CPP has only been too willing to cooperate with Duterte in the past months.

Duterte is receiving his reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, whose troops he has been paying tribute to through visits over the past week. The Armed Forces of the Philippines has never been known to be fair and transparent organization. It is a significant human rights violator, known for killing activists working in the open legal mass movement.

But what is most telling in this is Duterte's apparent unreasonableness in dealing with the CPP. Giving the CPP an "ultimatum" is not a very diplomatic way to treat a movement carrying very legitimate issues. It is counterproductive because it puts the CPP with its back against the wall over a very flimsy premise. If Duterte were serious with the ceasefire proclamation, he would not have made a move that could only antagonize the CPP. All of this puts Duterte's sincerity with the ceasefire pronouncement into question.

Duterte's treatment of the CPP as showcased here bodes ill for the entire Philippine Left, not just the CPP. If Duterte can act so aggressively with an organization that has this much clout, how much more harshly will Duterte treat other smaller Leftist/Socialist groups in the country?

And at a time when the killings through the state's armed elements are growing rampant, a peek into how impulsive and fascist Duterte could be is troubling. Duterte has already shown that he has little regard for human rights. Will those opposing his regime's human rights conduct be as aggressively treated as the CPP? Will their voices not be heard?

The Philippine Left should condemn Duterte's conduct in this whole affair. It could be that we are witnessing a very dangerous representative of the Philippine ruling class in the making.