The gloves come off, when there’s no more to talk about

AFTER all the publicity, expense and expectation of a final peace agreement, it is doubly frustrating to see the negotiators of the Philippine government and the communist insurgents cancel last Saturday the fifth round of peace talks to end the 48-year communist insurgency in the country.

The latest straw to scuttle the talks is the decision of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to oppose President Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao. It ordered its ground forces, the New People’s Army (NPA), to intensify its offensive operations against government troops in the South. It was a call to arms that predictably got a prompt and blunt reply.