THE recent developments in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have taken the media spotlight and public attention away from the "exploratory talks" as a prelude to the crafting of a "final peace agreement" that shall muzzle the muskets and bury the hatchet between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) — or so hopes Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unification, and retired general Emmanuel Bautista.
It is only now that Secretary Galvez was moving around for interviews that we learn that the peace negotiations and the announcement about it that came like a thief in the night was an outcome of quiet, back-channeling, and exploratory talks between government representatives and the NDF in far-away Netherlands. It was so silently and very surreptitiously done under the radar. I can only surmise that this also came as a big surprise to National Security Adviser Secretary and former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (CSAFP) Eduardo Año, Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and other members of the security cluster.
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