So long as the violence continues and official negotiations remain off the table, hope for a lasting settlement fades further and further away. As the data strongly suggests, the NPA of the Southern Philippines is clearly capable of abiding, for the most part, by the terms of a ceasefire. That said, NPA field commands have a limited tolerance for the presence of security forces within their “borders” and continue to subsist off of the extortion of populations therein. Both of these factors motivate the NPA’s use of violence, making the brokering of a durable ceasefire without tangible political dispensation for a ceasefire almost impossible.
When the August 2016 ceasefires were called off, they were preceded by tensions on the ground and a lack of results at the negotiating table, in particular the failure of the negotiating panel to secure the release of political prisoners. Thus, we should not be surprised that the NPA has bucked NDFP pressure to accede to a formal truce. To make matters worse, Duterte oscillates his behavior towards the NDFP-NPA with threats and inducements. On one day he invited the NPA to come and join him at his dinner table, while on another he threatened to incarcerate members of the NDFP’s negotiating panel. Duterte’s madcap statecraft may be a methodical approach to negotiation, but to most observers Duterte is a manic strongman and an unreliable partner for peace. However unstable, even Duterte should understand that the AFP is stretched thin containing the Maute-led takeover of Marawi City, and is ill-prepared to counter an NPA offensive in Mindanao, to say nothing of the rest of the country. Should the peace degrade further and the NPA press the beleaguered AFP, the outcome will be assuredly tragic.