Recent attacks by communist rebels against state forces only showed that they have “lost their sense of nation-building,” Malacañang said Monday.
“The New People’s Army’s attacks in Sarangani, South Cotabato, Surigao del Sur, Palawan and Masbate fuels the public’s doubt about the talks with the group,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.
“The government will undertake appropriate steps to deal decisively with these forces that seem to have lost their sense of nation-building,” he added.
Malacañang cited various attacks against state forces by communist rebels, including the ones in which they disarmed officials involved in counterinsurgency programs in Sarangani and South Cotabato.
Abella likewise said that the communists abducted a tribe leader and a Cafgu member in Surigao del Sur and ambushed a military convoy in Palawa. They likewise killed a policeman in Masbate.
Last Friday, Duterte rejected the possibility of resuming peace talks with communists, taking a step back from his recent statement expressing openness to the revival of negotiations.
The President blamed the communist rebel’s supposed “impatience,” adding that he has become wary about their many demands while continuing their attacks against the government.
“Nakakadala kasi. Kasi kung anong pinagsasabi na ganun. Sabagay, nagmumura rin ako pero itong mga ‘to, almost [dreaming?],” he said.
“You know, when you come to a negotiation and you bring along a dream. Sometimes, it’s really impossible. ‘Yung gusto mo ‘yung, you do not go into the harsh realities of life, kung ang nandiyan. But you start to dream of things that are not really, that are unreachable stars. Mahirap ‘yan,” he added.
Early this month, Duterte said that he is considering whether to accept the offer of communist rebels for an eventual resumption of the peace talks, but nevertheless cannot accede to all their demands for the release of political prisoners.
Responding to Duterte’s offer of a general amnesty for communist rebels who will lay down arms and cooperate with the government, the National Democratic Front (NDF) however, said that he will not “fool anyone in the revolutionary movement” with his offer as “nothing but a psywar tool to create division within the revolutionary movement”.
