Vol. VIII, No. 15 - August 15, 2026
The Marcos Jr. regime wants the Filipino people to believe that it is serious about pursuing peace. The regime now speaks of being "open to peace talks" with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Yet these declarations ring hollow when measured against the administration's actual record. Peace cannot be built on empty rhetoric while military offensives intensify, political dissent is criminalized, peace consultants remain imprisoned or killed, and the state continues to wage an all-out campaign of repression against those it considers enemies.
The reality is that the Marcos Jr. regime has invested far more in war than in peace. Under the guise of counterinsurgency, billions of pesos continue to be funneled into the AFP while the NTF-Elcac sustains its campaign of red-tagging, harassment, surveillance, and political persecution against activists, trade unionists, church workers, journalists, and human rights defenders. In April 2026, 19 individuals were killed in a military operation in Toboso, Negros Occidental, an incident that immediately drew widespread questions regarding the circumstances of the killings and the Marcos government’s outright disregard for international humanitarian law. Elsewhere, aerial bombardments and combat operations in rural and indigenous communities have displaced civilians, disrupted livelihoods, and placed entire communities in the crossfire of the government's relentless war campaign. These are not the actions of a government genuinely preparing the ground for meaningful negotiations.
More fundamentally, the administration's approach to the peace talks remain focused on seeking the surrender of the revolutionary movement. If there is to be a "mutual agenda," as Secretary Sarmiento suggests, then the Marcos regime must first abandon its obsession with capitulation. Genuine peace negotiations require recognition that there are two parties to a conflict seeking political solutions to political problems. There can be no meaningful negotiations when one side enters the process demanding that the other first surrender its arms and abandon its principles. The armed conflict persists because the conditions that gave rise to it persist.
The administration's credibility is further undermined by its continued imprisonment of NDFP peace consultants and hundreds of political prisoners. The detention of individuals who should be protected under existing agreements such as the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) signals that the Marcos regime remains committed to coercion and repression even while speaking the language of peace.
If Marcos Jr. genuinely wishes for the peace talks to resume, he must uphold the agreements forged through more than three decades of negotiations. Previous agreements constitute hard-won commitments that established the framework for negotiations. Ignoring them would reveal that the Marcos regime views peace talks not as a serious process but as a mere public relations exercise.
The contradictions within the regime itself further expose the emptiness of its declarations. While Secretary Sarmiento speaks of openness, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and other hardliners continue to promote the language of military victory and total defeat of the revolutionary movement.
The administration's claim of openness is further contradicted by its insistence on maintaining the terrorist designation of the CPP, NPA, and NDFP. One cannot seriously negotiate peace while simultaneously criminalizing the very parties with whom negotiations are supposed to take place.
Ultimately, the sincerity of the Marcos administration will be judged by whether it dismantles the barriers that it and previous administrations have erected against meaningful negotiations. It will be judged by whether it releases detained peace consultants and political prisoners, respects existing agreements, and abandons the bankrupt framework of demanding surrender before dialogue.
The Filipino people deserve a just and lasting peace. Genuine peace requires confronting the roots of armed conflict: landlessness, poverty, unemployment, inequality, corruption, and foreign domination. Until the Marcos Jr. regime demonstrates a willingness to address these fundamental issues, its supposed openness to peace talks will remain hollow and unconvincing.