MANILA, Philippines - A unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels was declared yesterday by President Duterte to support the upcoming resumption of peace talks and to stop clashes that are “getting bloodier by the day.”
During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) during the joint session of the House and Senate at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City, Duterte said the Philippines is going nowhere after decades of ambushes and skirmishes between government forces and communist guerrillas.
“To immediately stop violence on the ground, restore peace in the communities and provide enabling environment conducive to the resumption of the peace talks, I am now announcing a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front) effective immediately,” Duterte said.
He called on forces of the communist movement “to respond accordingly.”
“We want peace not of the dead but of the living,” Duterte said as he asked the rebels to stop their violent attacks on government forces.
Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the negotiating panel of the NDF, welcomed Duterte’s order to the AFP and Philippine National Police to implement a unilateral ceasefire with the NPA.
In a statement posted on the NDF website, Jaladoni said they sent a letter to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, chairman of the negotiating panel of the government, welcoming President Duterte’s announcement in his SONA and affirmed that the NDF shared the President’s determination to work for a just and lasting peace.
He said that the NDF would be able to respond to or reciprocate the unilateral ceasefire declaration of the government soon after receiving its full text.
He assured Bello that the NDF would study it carefully and make the appropriate response.
Jalandoni assumed that Duterte’s ceasefire declaration is necessarily connected with the release of all political prisoners under the amnesty proclamation to be issued by Duterte and concurred with by a majority of Congress, as referred to by the Oslo Joint Statement of June 15, 2016.
Formal negotiations between the government and the NDF are scheduled to resume next month with negotiators expected to tackle the release of political prisoners and previously signed agreements.
Presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza said the talks with the NDF would be held from Aug. 20 to 27 in Oslo, Norway.– With Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Ramon Efren Lazaro