PHILIPPINES — A day after President Rodrigo Duterte lifted his earlier declaration of unilateral ceasefire, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) affirmed they are still open to propositions of truce.
The CPP stated on their website that they are ready to declare simultaneous and unilateral ceasefire with the government on August 20, 2016.
On Saturday night, President Duterte retracted the ceasefire and alerted ground troops after the rebels failed to respond to his ultimatum.
He initially gave the rebels a deadline last Friday to explain the attack that happened on Wednesday against CAFGU’s in Davao del Norte.
The president admitted he is dismayed that his offer of truce that should give way to the peace process went seemingly unreciprocated by the revolutionary forces.
“Ano bang gusto nyo? I am going out of my way. Nandiyan yung road to ano, gumanon ako just to express to you the need for peace. Kasi we have to develop Mindanao. Hanggang may giyera dito yang mga taong yan gutom yan!”
(What is it that you want? I am going out of my way. The road is there to… I did that just to express to you the need for peace; because we have to develop Mindanao. As long as there is war here, the people will remain hungry!)
But according to CPP, the troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and PNP in Southern Mindanao were the ones who broke the ceasefire first.
CPP also said, it was supposed to declare ceasefire at 8 p.m. last Saturday but Duterte had already ordered the revocation of the truce by then.
The rebel group also insists that it gave orders to the NPA to activate active defense mode following Duterte’s ceasefire declaration on July 25.
Despite the current circumstances, the CPP still hopes it will not affect the scheduled resumption of peace talks on August 20 in Oslo, Norway.
This was confirmed by Peace Process Adviser, Secretary Jess Dureza. (JANICE INGENTE /UNTV News & Rescue)
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