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| New People’s Army (NPA) Rebels |
By Alexis Romero
MANILA, Philippines - Peace negotiations between the government and the communists would resume only if the New People’s Army (NPA) would stop extortion activities, President Duterte said yesterday.
Duterte said the “revolutionary tax” being demanded by the NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), is merely another term for extortion.
“I refuse to resume the peace talks with them until they stop extortion. People will say they pay taxes and yet they do not receive protection and they are being extorted by the NPA,” the President told reporters in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
Duterte insisted that he does not want to fight with the rebels, who have been waging an armed struggle against the government for 50 years.
“I suppose that everybody’s tired of killing people for 50 years. But if they want it for another 50 years, we in the government cannot do anything,” he said.
“It’s plain extortion. And if they want to continue, to resume the talks, one of the things that I would demand for them is stop their extortion activities.”
Read the full story at PhilStar