Duterte again says gov’t not interested in peace talks with Reds

July 8, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte for the nth time said he was no longer interested in resuming the peace negotiations with the communist rebels after Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Mari Sison projected that he could not finish his term until 2022.

"Sison said, I will not last three years. That's why I told Sison, I don't want to talk with you since you said I will only stay for three years. I don't have time to talk with you," Duterte said in his speech in Davao City on Friday.

"Fine. If that is my destiny, I will accept it. There’s no problem with it. Destiny is God. That is what God wants me to be. A civilian after three years, according to Sison, the clairvoyant of the Communist Party of the Philippines," he added.

After reviewing all the past agreements between the Maoist group and the previous administrations, Duterte said he found out that the peace negotiations would end up in power sharing and coalition government.

"I'm a lawyer. I read (the document) slowly. In total, if you summarize their figures, it would end up power-sharing and coalition government. I cannot give it to you. Let’s go to war. Let us all go to war," he said.

He said the CPP-New People's Army has been fighting the government for 50 years and his administration is ready to begin another 50 years.

"They said instead of fighting, they’ll just use their energies to oust Duterte. It's okay if that's what the people want. I am ready to be ousted. But let's fight first," he said.

The formal peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the political wing of the CPP-NPA, were supposed to resume June 28. But the government canceled it after Duterte said he wanted to review first all the agreements signed by his predecessors.

Sison also said they could no longer continue the peace talks with the Duterte administration and would just join in the move to oust him.

In November last year, Duterte formally terminated the formal peace talks with the leftist rebels by issuing a proclamation. But earlier this year, he change his mind and sought for the resumption of the talks. Ella Dionisio/DMS