Duterte realizes good for CA to reject appointments of left-leaning Cabinet officials

September 26, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday it was good the Commission on Appointments (CA) rejected the nomination of left-leaning Cabinet officials whom he earlier appointed to various posts.

In a speech in Calamba City, Laguna, Duterte also said he was not sure if peace talks with the communist rebels would be revived as he was not ready to talk to them again.

"It's good that Congress rejected their appointments," he said, referring to former Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano.

The CA is composed of some senators and congressmen.

Initially, Duterte appointed some left-leaning individuals to his Cabinet as part of his effort to forge a peace pact with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front.

The peace process, however, between the government and the Maoist group bogged down last year.

Duterte terminated the peace talks and has also sought the court for the declaration of the CPP-NPA as terrorist organizations.

Duterte said he was not sure if the peace talks with the Reds could be revived.

"I am not ready at this time to talk about talking to the communist. For as long as there is an objection from the military and the police, that they joined the various agreements JASIG ( Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees), humanitarian rights, it would now appear that more or less there is a sharing --- not coalition --- but sharing of governmental powers which we cannot concede, I cannot give because we do not own sovereignty," Duterte said.

He said he could not grant amnesty to communist rebels without asking the police, military, civilian sector, local government officials and victims of their atrocities. Celerina Monte/DMS