COMMUNIST rebels should first declare a ceasefire before any peace negotiations with the government would continue, President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated Friday, following the Communist Party of the Philippines’ order for its cadres to fight Duterte’s “repressive tyrannical rule.”
“There will be no talks until you declare a ceasefire. Period. You want another war? It has been 50 years. So God…. it if you want another 50 years—I have many soldiers,’ Duterte said in a speech in Digos City.
Duterte likewise played down communist rebels calling him a dictator: “You’re all so corny.”
In a Sept. 7 editorial of its official publication, “Ang Bayan,” the CPP’s Central Committee blasted Duterte’s “repetitious, scornful and self-conceited” pronouncements which it said did not translate into actual measures.
The CPP also scored Duterte for the killing of many thousands in his war against drugs and insurgent forces and the martial law he declared in Mindanao.
“The people indict Duterte for the thousands upon thousands of lives snuffed (out) by the three wars he has launched: the Oplan Tokhang ‘war against drugs’, the Oplan Kapayapaan war of suppression and martial law in Mindanao and the anti-Moro war and destruction of Marawi,’” the communist rebels said.
“The people detest Duterte for repeatedly ensuring protection and giving incentives to police and soldiers for blindly following his kill orders,” the CPP added.
In a move to convince Duterte to return to the negotiating table, NDF chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili last August expressed willingness to sign a bilateral ceasefire deal with the government, once they agreed on agrarian reform and national industrialization.
Agcaoili said the President knew that the NDF “will not agree to a bilateral ceasefire without an agreement on reforms,” referring to the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms, which would include agrarian reform and national industrialization.
While there had been no backchannel talks since Duterte’s pronouncements last July, Agcaoili said that the communist rebels still saw possible openings with the President’s decision to speak directly with leftist protesters right after his congressional address.
Duterte, however, said his decision to end peace talks with the communist rebels was already final, as he ordered the military to be “unforgiving” to the communists following their attacks against government forces.
He also stressed he would wage war with the CPP, which has been represented in the talks by its political arm, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.