MANILA — Philippine communist rebels warned President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday that they may be forced to end their monthslong ceasefire and resume fighting if he does not suspend the government’s counterinsurgency program and withdraw troops from rebel-influenced areas.
The Communist Party of the Philippines said that if Duterte fulfills the demands by January and releases remaining political detainees through an amnesty, it can guarantee the ceasefire’s extension, helping to foster peace talks brokered by Norway.
New People’s Army guerrillas, however, will be forced to engage troops if the president presses the military’s deployment of troops in what the rebels claim as “guerrilla zones” in the countryside, the outlawed party said in a statement.
“He will only have himself to blame if this forces the hand of the Communist Party of the Philippines to terminate its unilateral cease-fire declaration,” it said.
While no fighting has erupted since both sides declared separate ceasefires in August, the Maoist guerrillas have complained that troops continued to be deployed in rebel areas to carry out surveillance and other counterinsurgency operation in what they say are violations of the government’s own truce.
The military is unlikely to relent to the rebel demands. It has denied rebel allegations that it has violated the government ceasefire by deploying counterinsurgency troops in rural areas where the rebels claim to have influence. — AP
