Philippine rebels want peace talks even without a cease-fire
MANILA, Philippines — Communist guerrillas in the Philippines said Monday they want to proceed with peace talks that President Rodrigo Duterte has scrapped, but that reimposing a cease-fire would be difficult if the military keeps on violating the truce.
Duterte on Friday lifted the government’s 6-month-old cease-fire with the rebels and said Saturday that he was scrapping the talks brokered by Norway. Those moves came after the guerrillas abandoned their own truce and killed six soldiers and kidnapped two others in fresh violence.
The government and the rebels separately declared cease-fires last year to foster peace talks, which had steadily progressed in recent months before rapidly deteriorating in recent weeks.
On Monday, rebel adviser Luis Jalandoni accused the military of violating the government’s own cease-fire by deploying troops in about 500 villages across the country, occupying village halls and schools and continuing counterinsurgency operations like surveillance that he said inevitably led to new fighting.