Duterte not keen on pursuing peace talks with Reds

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is no longer keen on pursuing the peace talks with communists, citing their alleged violations of existing laws. 

“I am sad and I am angry. I do not think that we can have talks again with (Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria) Sison. I don’t want it. They do not follow the law. They always jump off (using the) Geneva Convention and they do not follow. It’s pure hypocrisy,” Duterte said during the inauguration of a government facility in Bataan last Thursday. 

The Geneva Convention produced laws on the humane treatment of captured or injured military personnel, civilians and medical personnel during war. 

Duterte cited the killing of four policemen by communist guerrillas in Negros Oriental last July. Security officials said the four were tortured before they were killed. The National Democratic Front (NDF), which represents the communists in the negotiations with government, denied the allegation. 

Even given his position, the President said he is ready to accept New People’s Army members who will surrender. 

In Baguio City, the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) has reiterated its call for the government and the NDF to return to the negotiating table as it cited its concern and alarm over the apparent “escalating atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in our national life brought about by speeches and public discourses that sow hate and war.”

“We lament the worsening animosity over an already fractured social fabric and the scourge of misery that continue to plague a majority of our fellow citizens,” said Archbishop Antonio Ledesma.

Ledesma, who heads the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and co-chairs the PEPP, said they are specifically concerned with Duterte’s pronouncement of an “all-out war against communist insurgents” and the statements of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officials to employ lethal and non-lethal means “to hit the enemy hard.”

He believes that part of this strategy “is to target and vilify schools, revive the anti-subversion law, and red tag the church people, journalists, human rights defenders and other critics of the government.” – With Artemio Dumlao, Gilbert Bayoran