PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday offered the hope that peace talks with the communist rebels would resume, and that his public conflict with them “will be resolved” soon.
“In due time, this will be resolved because it is not really the ideology, but about the Filipino people,” Duterte said in a speech before Surigao City residents over the weekend.
“Whatever is the proper term, I have no problem if they are communists or capitalists, as long as they prioritize Filipinos,” he said in Filipino.
In the same speech, Duterte said that he needs to respect the varying opinions of the members of his Cabinet, who give him advice on key issues.
“My Cabinet is huge. There are rightists and there are leftists who have ideologies. [I need to] understand them, respect them. The Communist Party, it’s the same with the Liberals and the Nacionalistas … the beliefs of the capitalists are the same as the socialists,” he said.
Malacañang on Saturday said that Duterte is seeking the ear of his peace advisers after Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison urged him to return to the negotiating table.
“I’m sure the President is a listening President and he will continue to consider the advice of his secretaries and peace advisers. Let’s see what will be the developments in the coming days,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.
Duterte’s spokesman reminded communist rebels, however, to fix the “internal disconnect” within the revolutionary movement and do something to convince the government of their sincerity in talking peace.
On Friday, Sison urged Duterte to continue with the peace negotiations with the communists to clarify “misunderstandings” that, he claimed, were instigated by peace “spoilers.”
New People’s Army spokesman Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos echoed this sentiment, saying the NPA is still willing to talk peace with the government.
Despite the renewed peace overtures, fighting continued.
At least six suspected NPA recruits were captured during a running gunbattle with government troops Sunday morning in Alabel, Sarangani, Capt. Rhyan Batchar, spokesman of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said.
One soldier suffered a gunshot wound in the abdomen and was being treated at the Metro Davao Medical and Research Center in Davao City, he said.
He said members of the 73rd Infantry Battalion cornered the NPA recruits in a brief firefight in Sitio Tangis in Barangay Datal Anggas.
“Five of them with their high-powered firearms were captured,” Batchar said.
Batchar said the capture was the result of a series of armed encounters in the province from Feb. 8 to 11.
Meanwhile, soldiers from the 60th Infantry Battalion recovered two improvised explosive devices, a blasting machine, detonating switch and wires left behind by the fleeing NPA rebels after a series of encounters Saturday in Barangay Bollucan, Laak, Compostela Valley.
He said “several people affected by the ongoing armed conflicts” in Alabel and Laak.
“They have been evacuated to safer areas. The line units of 10ID are closely coordinating with the local government units, local police and the local DRRMC to address the situation,” Batchar said.
The renewed hostilities between the government and NPA erupted after the rebel group lifted its own unilateral ceasefire early this month then followed by the government lifting of its own.
As a result, President Duterte terminated the peace talks between the government and National Democratic Front, the negotiating panel of the Communist Party of the Philippines and NPA.
Duterte went on to tag the CPP-NPA-NDF as “terrorists” and ordered an all-out war against the communist rebels.
The NPA, on the other hand, retaliated by conducting offensives not only against government troops but also business installations whose owners have rejected “revolutionary taxation.”
The military on Sunday said the NPA had violated the only agreement that they had signed so far, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect to Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, when they swooped down a peaceful community of Sitio Sarog, Barangay San Isidro, Santiago town of Agusan del Norte and killed two civilians, wounding three others and killed one soldier at 5 a.m. on Feb. 11.
“There is a situation in that community that needs to be addressed. That is why I have sent my soldiers to secure the people against these NPAs.” Lt. Col. Glenn Joy Aynera, 29IB commanding officer on his statement.
Also on Sunday, Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez urged the government and NDF to set aside their differences and resume peace process toward a long lasting peace in Mindanao.
“There is no substitute for peace and we must pursue it at all cost. If only the two sides could agree on common points and decide to face each other in the negotiating table once again, we can surely expect a better and more progressive future for our country,” she said. With Rio N. Araja
“The last thing that we want to see is our own soldiers fighting the communist rebels. We
are all Filipinos, and they [rebels] are not our real enemies,” she said. SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Sunday said nothing was final about the deletion of plunder on the list of crimes to be punishable by death penalty under a proposed measure restoring capital punishment. With Rio N. Araja