Peace advocates and activists from various groups call for the resumption of peace talks between the government and communist rebels during a rally along Taft Avenue in Manila in February. EDD GUMBAN, file
Backchannel talks between government and communist negotiators are being held in an effort to resume formal peace negotiations, President Rodrigo Duterte disclosed Tuesday.
"Hang on because -- Do not spoil. Well, I must admit there’s a backchanneling," the president said in a chance interview.
Last week, Duterte said he is open to resuming talks with the communists but maintained that the rebels should free their police and military hostages and stop collecting so-called revolutionary taxes.
The president also said that the rebels should stop making demands and destroying properties.
“I’m open to talk to the rebels, just not the killers. I’m ready to talk and I’m ready to stop this war. I would prefer for us to not have war, but we need to talk from the heart,” he said last Friday.
The president terminated the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front after the cmmuists insisted on their demand to free 400 rebels whom they consider political prisoners jailed on trumped-up charges.
The NDF represents the communist rebels in the peace talks.
Duterte opposed the demand, which he claimed, is similar to the grant of amnesty.
The communists then called off its unilateral ceasefire and launched attacks against government forces.
On February 4, Duterte announced that he is scrapping the peace talks and instructed the police to arrest the NDF consultants who joined the negotiations. He also labeled the NDF, the Communist Party of the Philippines and their armed wing the New People’s Army as “terrorists.”
The following week, the CPP instructed the NPA to free the six soldiers and policemen they are holding captive as a “positive gesture” for the resumption of the peace negotiations.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.