THE DURIAN BEAT

By Roger Balanza

Life after Joma

December 10, 2017, 2:06 pm

This piece is about two men and a bird that flew away: Jesus “Jess” Dureza and Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III and the scuttled peace talks with the leftist  troika — Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF).

Jess, Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process and Bebot, Secretary of Labor, were the spearheads of the  Philippine panel in the GPH-CPP/NPA/NDF peace talks.

Jess and Bebot may have failed to snag the Bird of Peace in the negotiation with the Reds to end the 5-decade old communist insurgency, but we have to praise them for their selfless sacrifice for the sake of peace in the country.

Nobody could have fitted the role that Jess and Bebot played in facing off with the veteran communist negotiators Jose Ma. “Joma” Sison, founder of the CPP; Luis Jalandoni, NDF senior adviser, and Fidel Agcaoili, NDF chairman.

We should note that the previous off-and-on GPH-CPP/NPA/NDF peace talks, before President Duterte resumed it for the nth time,  were all failures under past presidents and had the Sison-Jalandoni-Agcaoili trimuvirate in the NDF negotiating panel.

That the peace talks had failed under five presidents can only indicate how the trio’s very low level of appreciation of the negotiation as tool for peace with government.

We can only imagine how Jess and Bebot played Batman and Robin in gaining pluses for the government or how they crossed swords with the naughty commies playing Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, who secretly had been treating the talks as a big joke with  peace with the government actually not being in their revolutionary radar.

The peace talks were supposed to be on its final dash to catching the Bird of Peace and reach a happy ending with the signing of a final peace agreement.

But something went awry, not because of Jess and Bebot, but due to the insincerity of the CPP/NPA/NDF that threw a monkey wrench into what could have been the final solution to the communist insurgency.

In the midst of the talks, the NPA, the armed wing of the CPP/NDF combine, continued to waylay the countryside with attacks on government forces, extortion and imposition of revolutionary tax and killing and harassment of civilians.

This treachery prompted President Duterte to terminate the talks. Of late, the President also declared the communists as terrorists to end the talks completely.

For now, Jess and Bebot, whose heroic feat in the thick of it all and their locking horns with the communist leaders well documented, are fading out in the din of debates and commentaries on whether or not the termination of the negotiation was in the right direction.

Jess and Bebot have been ordered by President Duterte, after scuttling the talks, to pack their bags, leave the Netherlands where most of the talks have been held, and go home to Manila.

People might wonder if there would still be life for the two Dabawenyos after the termination of the talks.

Quo vadis, Jesus “Jess” Dureza and Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III?

Well, there is life for both the country’s foremost peace seekers after Joma.

If Bebot failed to complete his peace mission and lure back Joma to the country to lead in the singing of the National Anthem, he still has, as the Labor czar, to labor in tackling the woes of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), thousands of whom are stranded in the Middle East and need immediate repatriation.

While talking peace with the Reds, Bebot has on the side asked Congress for an additional PHP1.1 billion in the Department of Labor 2018 budget for the repatriation of the OFWs stranded in Qatar, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.

If Bebot could be a hero, if he was able to notch a peace pact with Joma and his gang, whose NPA contributes nothing but misery and violence to the country, he is a bigger hero if he could save the thousands of beleaguered OFWs, the country’s “unsung heroes” who beef up the Philippine economy with their remittance.

As Labor chief, Bebot also has an unfinished business to resolve with the labor sector regarding the anomalous ENDO (End-of-Contract). He could be a hero to the thousands of workers if he can dismantle ENDO  that denies permanent employment to workers.

As for Jess, he could retire in his Seagull Beach Resort in Punta Dumalag in Matina Aplaya in Davao City to resume an environmental research.

There, he could be valuable in the study of how climate change has impacted on sea levels.

We read somewhere that in the early 90s, Jess started this environmental advocacy by reading every morning sea water level markings on stilts of structures in his beach resort and discovered how sea levels were rising by the day.

If Jess failed in his search for peace in talks with communists, he could now contribute valuable data, if he goes back to watching sea water level rising in his Seagull resort, to global warming and its effect on ocean water levels --- and predicted time on when the Davao Gulf would swamp his and President Duterte’s below-sea-level Davao City.

It is unfortunate that the peace talks is completely dead after President Duterte declared the CPP and NPA as terrorist groups that closed down any window for resumption of the talks with CPP/NPA/NDF.

Had this not happened, and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is still allowed to hold localized peace talks with the NPA, Jess’ blood would be pumping with excitement.

Unfortunately, President Duterte’s declaration of the NPA as a terror group stopped Inday Sara from pursuing the localized peace talks.

Had the local level talks pushed through and Jess has not enough yet of this endless peace talks with the Reds, he no longer needs to fly to the Netherlands, but do it right in his Seagull Valley Mountain Resort in Buda at the foot of the majestic Mt. Apo in freezing cool Marilog District  also in Davao City.

He could lead the Davao City panel to be organized by Inday Sara to talk directly with the local NPA commanders, rather than the CPP/NDF mafia of Joma.

Jess’ Seagull Mountain Resort, which could be the site of the local level peace negotiations, is only a gunfire bark away from Paquibato District, also in hinterland Davao City.

We heard that the NPA rebels in Paquibato, the heartland of the communist insurgency in the Davao Region, are fed up with Joma, want to break ties with the CPP/NDF and are willing to bite Inday Sara’s overtures on holding the localized peace talks.

Peace talks being in his blood, Jess would have been too happy to sit down with the First Pulang Bagani Command, the NPA front of the late legendary rebel commander Leoncio “Ka Parago” Pitao, whose claimed red area traverses the Davao del Sur, Bukidnon and Davao del Norte shared boundaries.

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About the Columnist

Image of Roger Balanza

The author is publisher and editor of the Davao City-based online news site The Durian Post and Top News Now.