SAYING communist rebels have been their “natural enemies” for quite some time, President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday appealed for understanding from the military why he has to negotiate with the communist National Democratic Front for the sake of peace in the country.
“Let me tell you from the heart: This is hard. Because you know, natural enemy. But let me also remind you that this natural enemy who wants to kill also, are Filipinos,” Duterte told government troops at Camp Melchor F. Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela.
“My job is to look for a way to end the killing of fellow Filipinos,” the President said. “In the fullness of God’s time, I pray we’ll have that. We’ll have peace in the land.”
Duterte, a former member of the leftist Kabataang Makabayan founded by his former Lyceum of the Philippines professor Jose Maria Sison, said the demands of Filipino communists have changed little in the past five decades.
“We have all grown, since we’re students. I am now President. Read the Constitution, even if I toss and turn it every which way, it is really my duty to seek peace for the land,” he said.
Duterte made the remarks as the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process announced that the second round of talks with NDF has been pushed forward.
“The Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the NDFP have agreed to adjust the schedule of the second round of the peace negotiations in Oslo from October 8-12 to October 6-10,” the OPAPP said in a media advisory.
It also announced that the next round shall be at the Holmenfjord Hotel, venue of the only formal talks between the Benigno Aquino government and the NDFP in February 2011.
Duterte’s visit to Camp Dela Cruz was the latest in a string of visits to military camps all over the country. On Saturday, he was accompanied by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and AFP chief, Gen. Ricardo Visaya.
Camp Dela Cruz is the home of the Army’s 5th Infantry Division, called Star Troopers, who in the past were frequently in deadly combat with communist rebels.
Military officials said Duterte’s camp visits have boosted troop morale.
“He (President Duterte) really talks and cares about the men on the ground. He also talks to the commander to hear for himself what they really need in the field and how the government can address it immediately for the good of our soldiers,” said AFP public affairs chief Col. Edgard Arevalo.
“There is no request within reason, by our soldiers, that the President did not respond positively,” the AFP official stated.
Arevalo said that this is the first time in military and Philippine history that a President is taking time to make the rounds of various military command headquarters to meet their personnel.