MANILA, Philippines - Stop collecting revolutionary taxes and attacking government forces.
These are the terms President Duterte has set for the communist rebels before resuming negotiations today, Palace officials said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Duterte had set the terms before the government accedes to the declaration of a bilateral ceasefire with the communist rebels.
The President stood firm on his earlier statements that he wants the New People’s Army (NPA) to stop collecting “revolutionary taxes,” attacking government forces as well as destroying the properties of private firms in the countryside.
Undersecretary Nabil Tan of Office of the Presidential Peace Adviser of the Peace Process said the President wanted the government panel to reiterate the terms before going for a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
Abella, for his part, said Duterte wanted clear parameters for a ceasefire declaration as well as not recognizing any territorial claims by the communists.
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