Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Wednesday, December 21 said the death of Jose Maria Sison should propel the government to renew its peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines and other remaining leftist groups.
“This is the right time to resume peace talks locally. Local peace talks dapat. Yung ating local chief executives, governor man or mayor or kung saan laganap pa din ang presensya ng NPA (New Peoples Army) sa kanilang lugar eh dapat magsimula na silang makipag-usap sa mga ground commanders ng CPP-NPA (It should be local peace talks. Our local chief executives, whether governor or mayor, where the presence of NPA is still felt in their jurisdiction should start talking with the ground commanders of the CPP-NPA),” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa, former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, said the government should seize the moment now that the CPP-NPA’s founder has already died.
“Even before the death of Joma Sison, dahan-dahan nang nagka-crumble ang CPP-NPA-NDF (the CPP-NPA-NDF has started to gradually crumble). The insurgency, which is their bread and butter, ay dahan-dahan na itong namamatay. May natitira pa pero kakaunti na lang yan (is slowly waning. There are still some left but they are now just a few in numbers),” he said.
Dela Rosa said, whoever the Central Committee of the CPP-NPA will designate as Sison’s successor will face “extreme difficulty in reviving their fake cause.”
Prior to his death, the senator said Sison was the real “stumbling block” in the local peace talks because he refuses to lose control over their field units.
The local commanders, on the other hand, are afraid to face sanctions and be punished by the CPP’s central committee through Sison, whenever they try to initiate the peace talks.
“Ngayon wala na si Joma Sison, dapat eh, i-sieze (Now that Sison is gone, we should seize) the moment, the opportunity to conduct localized peace talks),” Dela Rosa said.
At the same time, Dela Rosa said he sees no problem with Sison’s remains getting buried in the Philippines.
“Walang problema (that’s not a problem) Joma Sison is still a Filipino. Kung gusto nila pagbigyan na dito ilibing(If they want to give in to their request for him to be buried here)...he deserves to be buried in his home country),” he pointed out.