“Maybe in the coming days we see a development,” Duterte says
(Eagle News) — “We have progressed a lot.”
This was what President Rodrigo Duterte said when talking about the possibility of resuming peace talks with the communist rebels on Thursday, April 12.
Speaking before around 2000 Filipinos in Hong Kong, the President said as such “maybe in the coming days we see a development.”
The President called off peace talks with the communist rebels last year, citing what he said were their atrocities that include the killing of a baby.
But only last week, the President ordered government officials to “work on the resumption” of the peace talks.
He said communist rebels should not push for a coalition government, should confine themselves in camps, should not collect revolutionary taxes, and should agree to a ceasefire.
Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison has welcomed President Duterte’s pronouncement, but said the resumption of peace talks should not be subject to “pre-conditions.”
But Peace Secretary Jesus Dureza said they were not “pre-conditions” but elements to an “enabling environment.”