Government panel awaits ‘final instruction’ by Duterte to end peace talks with Reds

By Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral
Reporter

THE GOVERNMENT panel in the peace process with communist rebels is still awaiting President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s instructions to formally scrap the talks, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

Fresh recruits of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas stand in formation with their firearms mostly stolen from Philippine government troops, at the rebel’s encampment located in the forest of Bislig, in Surigao del Sur province, southern Philippines 24 April 2004 to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the National Democratic Front (NDF). — AFP

This formality had been cited in the past by communist negotiators whenever talks were set aside, and Palace officials were now pointing this out in a press briefing on Wednesday, July 26.

Mr. Duterte called off peace talks with the communists following their attacks on government forces amid military rule in Mindanao, where troops are battling pro-Islamic State militants.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella in the Palace press briefing said there is no “official” notice yet on canceling the talks.

“At this point we go by what the President said,” Mr. Abella said.

For his part, government chief negotiator Silvestre H. Bello III said the state’s panel is on standby for the President’s “final instruction.”

“To terminate the talks, we have to write them, inform them that we are terminating [the peace negotiations],” Mr. Bello told Palace reporters on Tuesday night.

Termination of the talks “will take effect 30 days after the receipt of the letter,” he added.

For its part, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in a statement yesterday said its armed wing “must accelerate its growth” by intensifying recruitment of new combatants and seizing more firearms from state forces.

It also urged the public to “wage revolutionary armed struggle to fight the fascist and pro-imperialist troops” and ordered “extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare on an ever widening and deepening mass base.”

Commenting on the CPP’s remarks, Mr. Abella said the rebels have a “distorted perception” of Mr. Duterte’s peace initiatives.

“The President has been very open and has actually engaged them. But from where he’s coming, he is actually bent over backwards and trying to accommodate them,” he added.

“However, as his reactions lately, apparently he doesn’t perceive that there is a common response,” Mr. Abella also said.

He also said regarding leftist members in the Cabinet: “As long as they’re there, we can assume that they still have his (Mr. Duterte’s) full trust.”

“As far as I can see, there is no conflict.”