Duterte warns of ‘more virulent’ clashes with rebels
President says he cancelled the peace talks with the insurgents mainly due to their unabated attacks on civilian establishments and facilities as well as on remote military and police camps that resulted in the killing and abduction of soldiers and police
MANILA: President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte ordered the military to be on high alert with a warning of more “virulent” clashes with Communist rebels following his proclamation formally can celling peace negotiations with them.
Duterte also warned that senior Communist leader Jose Maria Sison, who is on self-exile in the Netherlands, would be arrested if he returned to the Philippines.
“There will be virulent confrontations. Be prepared for that,” Duterte said during his visit to the elite Army Scout Rangers during their anniversary celebration at their base in Bulacan province in Central Luzon.
Duterte said he cancelled the peace talks with the insurgents mainly due to their unabated attacks on civilian establishments and facilities as well as on remote military and police camps that resulted in the killing and abduction of soldiers and policemen.
He also assured the military and the police that he would not allow them to meet the rebels head-on by providing them with weapons and war materiel that are brand new, not used, or “hand-me-downs.”
Duterte repeated the same warning in his speech before his fellow alumni of San Beda College, run by Benedictine priests, where he was honoured as the “Bedan of the Year” on Friday night.
“You can somewhat expect a more violent activity of all sorts,” he said referring to the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines that has been waging a Maoistp-style insurgency against the government for close to 50 years, considered the longest in Asia and the Paciic.
A day after announcing the cancellation of the peace talks, heavily armed Np as ambushed a truck bearing members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force in Iloilo province in the Visayas also on Friday, killing a police commando and wounding 10 others.
When he became president in June 2016, Duterte announced the resumption of peace talks with the Maoists through their political arm the National Democratic Front in Oslo, Norway which has been brokering the negotiations.
Dutere also announced that to show his sincerity in ending war with the Maoists, he had appointed at least three Cabinet oficials recommended by Left-leaning groups.