He said the AFP “deceived” Duterte, its commander-in-chief, by saying that the NPA violated the unilateral ceasefire when it waylaid the Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP) troops who were returning to their detachment in Sitio Patil, Barangay Gupitan.
Advertisement
“That Malacañang’s announcement withdrawing the ceasefire declaration was made at around 7:30 p.m. lacks circumspect to say the least”, it said in a statement on Sunday, July 31.
“If you do not honor or you kill a single soldier or a Cafgu (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit), who is also a soldier of the Republic, let’s forget it. Let’s just fight”, Duterte said. But way past Duterte’s deadline, the communist group claimed it was set to declare a truce later that Saturday night.
In a separate statement issued after the cease-fire order was lifted, the military said that the New People’s Army guerrillas had “missed a golden opportunity” to demonstrate their commitment to peace. “It’s not relevant at all”, Duterte said, referring to his former Professor Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the CPP. “I hope we can proceed with the talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines [CPP]”, he added.
Duterte said the peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the communists, would resume as scheduled on August 20.
It was the first irritant in what has been a blossoming relationship between Duterte, who calls himself a left-wing president, and the Maoist guerrillas, who have been waging one of Asia’s longest-running communist insurgencies.
“I am ordering all security forces to be on high alert and continue to discharge their normal functions and mandate to neutralise all threats to national security, protect the citizens, enforce the laws and maintain peace”, he said.
“We trust, however, that this (lifting) will not affect preparations for formal resumption of peace negotiations in Oslo nor will it preclude the GRP president from reissuing such a declaration simultaneously with a similar unilateral declaration by the CPP and NPA (New People’s Army)”, it said. Given this, Dureza assured that he would make his corresponding recommendations to the President and the whole cabinet in the cabinet meeting.
He said government resources could be allocated to address the roots of the problems the rebels seek to solve.
Duterte asked during a news briefing, visibly upset after visiting the militiaman’s wake in southern Davao del Norte province.
The NPA said that they were protecting their troops from the paramilitary group and the military as part of their “active defense mode” in the face of an imminent armed encounter.
But the peace talks were thrown into jeopardy when Mr. Duterte said he might call off the unilateral ceasefire after rebels killed a militiaman and injured four others in an ambush on Wednesday.
President Duterte holds a briefing for the Malacañang Press Corps yesterday, ending a two-month media boycott, which started in early June after he was heavily criticized over a statement on media killings, and he decided he would not hold any more press conferences until the end of his term.
Advertisement
“In these trying times, national unity through peace talks between the [government] and the revolutionary movement is crucial”.
