He also called for the “immediate release” of 22 detainees whom he identified as “peace consultants”. Although already obviously disappointed and exasperated, he announced 5 o’clock the following day, July 30, as a final deadline otherwise he would lift the government’s ceasefire in order to further secure the civilians and secure the peace.
Advertisement
The Philippines is paving the way to shift to a federal form of government by 2022, after President Rodrigo Duterte agreed with the leaders of Congress to set up a body to amend the constitution, the speaker of the house said on Thursday. Duterte earlier said he understood the poverty and neglect that drove the militants to take up arms and he appealed to them to end kidnappings. The CPP in its statement also viewed Mr. Duterte’s unilateral cease-fire as “a non-existent truce (a mutually signed cease [-] fire agreement as opposed to a unilateral cease [-] fire declaration)”.
He issued the ultimatum after the rebels ambushed a group of paramilitary in southern province of Davao del Norte, two days after he declared the unilateral suspension of offensive military operations on July 25.
The exiled leader had asked Duterte on Friday to be patient and said that the rebels “should be given enough time to study the implications and consequences” of the cease-fire.
Duterte demanded that the rebels also declare a truce as a result of the incident but the rebels failed to meet the 5 p.m. final deadline Duterte imposed Saturday.
But things went awry when NPA fighters supposedly attacked government militia in Davao del Norte.
Although at 6:30 p.m, the NDF said it will reciprocate the unilateral ceasefire but has asked for more time to finish its investigation on the attack of the Army’s militiamen on Wednesday.
“I am talking to Sison, he is a fugitive”, he said.
The President is also willing to grant amnesty to Sison, his former college professor, and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari.
For Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, the lifting of the government’s unilateral ceasefire is “unfortunate” and he hopes the talks will push through on August 20.
Just a month into his presidency, Duterte used his inaugural State of the Nation Address to warn the public to steer clear of drug use, the scale of which was “staggering and scary” and promised no relenting in his crackdown.
According to Duterte, he is planning a trip to Jolo to talk to Misuari. This is what we have been waiting for,”Dureza said”. This would have meant, though, that the government military and police forces were to be like sitting ducks until August 20.
Ernesto Alcanzare, lead organizer of Yes for Peace-Bayanihan para sa Kapayapaan, Kaunlaran at Kasaganahan, explained that nearly five decades of armed struggle being waged by the CPP-NPA have cost the Filipinos billions of pesos worth of human and material resources.
Pushing through with the peace talks would allow him to pursue his campaign promise of bringing peace to the country.
Advertisement
Duterte said as president, he could not go into the “exercise of ideology of poltergeist” with the communist group.
