By Alexis Romero
MANILA, Philippines — 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.
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