Palace to CPP: Localized peace talks for fighters, not for leaders living in comfort abroad
Malacanang is offering the localized peace talks to the communist rebels on the ground and not to those living comfortable lives abroad, an official said Friday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement after the Communist Party of the Philippines rejected the localized peace talks that will be pursued by the Duterte administration after formal peace negotiations failed to resume.
"The government's offer for localized peace talks is to fighting insurgents on the ground and not to their alleged leaders living comfortable lives in Europe," he said, apparently specifically referring to CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, who has been self-exiled in the Netherlands since 1987.
"We will await responses of those who are risking their lives and limbs on what appears to be a hopeless cause," Roque added.
The CPP, in a statement on Friday, said the so-called localized peace talks are "a sham, a waste of people's money, and are doomed to fail."
"It is a worn-out psywar tactic to project victory to conceal the continuing failure of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to suppress the people's resistance and stem the steady growth of the NPA (New People's Army)," the umbrella organization of the NPA and National Democratic Front said.
The government is now preparing the guidelines for the localized peace talks. Celerina Monte/DMS
