President Rodrigo Duterte has made a fresh call to communist rebels to surrender, saying he wanted peace in the country and did not want any more bloodshed.
Duterte made the statement in remarks in Davao City on Friday, reiterating his willingness to offer jobs and houses to member of the New People’s Army (NPA), who will submit themselves to authorities and lay down their arms.
“Listen, NPAs. I’m not fighting with you and I don’t want to kill you, but I don’t know about you. But we are really friends,” Duterte said.
“Your underground movement will not amount to anything. But I am ready to accept you if you surrender. Bring your firearms, give it to me, and I will give you a house and a job,” he added. The president said he wanted to return the favour to communist rebels in his home city of Davao who helped him win the presidency in 2016.
“I will not be where I am today without the help of the people of Davao and the NPA. I’m thankful for that. And because you helped me, I am asking you to also help me find a way for all of us to live. Not necessarily rich but…,” Duterte said.
“During my term you can approach me anytime. I will not harm you because I have served for so long and I know that you supported me,” he added.
The president made the fresh offer even after he expressed confidence that the communist insurgency would be over by next year.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The president, through a proclamation, declared them a terror group in December 2017.
Duterte, a self-described left-leaning leader, told the NPA rebels they would get nothing from killing him, adding it would be better for them to just return to the fold of the law.
“What will you get from it? You NPAs. What? You’re going to kill me? On the next day what will happen? What will happen to the Philippines? You women fighters are better off coming here. I’ll hug and kiss you,” he said.
The president also said the country would never improve if corruption continued to exist and if law and order was not observed.
“I already told you — and remember this because I won’t last long here on earth — that if there is no law and order or peace here in the Philippines and corruption is still rampant, our country will never prosper,” he said.
Hopes were high that the communist insurgency in the Philippines, one of the longest-running in Asia, would be over under Duterte.
Duterte said he had leftist leanings, having been mentored by CPP leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison.
But ties between Duterte and the Left soured amid continuous fighting between government troops and communist rebels. Duterte had also dismissed the possibility of forging a coalition government with the communists, which he said was the goal of the communist movement which had been bent on toppling the government.
Peace talks were supposed to resume in late June this year, but the government decided to postpone it and opted to conduct more consultations with stakeholders. The government also sought to just hold “localised peace talks” with communist rebels, a setup rejected by the communist group.
On Friday, Duterte reiterated that he and Sison “will no longer talk,” but urged “other communists” to talk peace with local government officials.
“But we will find a way because life is not a revolution. It will evolve by itself like a flower that will bloom on its own,” he added.
Last week, Malacanang said President Duterte remained open to negotiating with the rebels, in reaction to a Manila Times exclusive interview with Sison in the Netherlands.
In the interview with Manila Times chairman Emeritus Dante Ang, Sison accused members of the Cabinet security cluster of swaying Duterte into suspending the peace talks in favour of a “military solution.”
The military however said Sison was lying, and explained that peace negotiations were terminated because of rampant recruitment and extortion by the NPA, as well as the need to review previous and proposed agreements and hold consultations with the public.


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