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| New People’s Army (NPA) "Soldiers" |
Duterte threatens to ‘flatten’ NPA mountain lairs
By Alexis Romero
MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte may be ready to resume talks with communists, but he is also prepared to “flatten mountains” to assert to the rebels that they cannot claim any part of Philippine territory to be theirs.
Speaking at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) convention in Pasay City Thursday night, the President said while the government and communists are now holding backchannel talks in preparation for formal negotiations, there are some things that he cannot give up.
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Duterte eyes consultations as Reds set to silence guns
By Christina Mendez, Artemio Dumlao
MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte will need to first convene the National Security Council and consult Congress, the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police before deciding on matters involving the peace process with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), such as declaring a unilateral ceasefire.
The CPP-NDF said yesterday that its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), would declare a unilateral ceasefire not later than March 31.
The CPP-NDF is expecting the government to declare a similar ceasefire as part of an agreement reached during backchannel talks from March 10 to 11, the group said in a statement.
Consultations are needed to avoid any incident that may endanger the lives of police officers and soldiers and “aberrations in the system of talking about peace,” the President said yesterday.
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