Sara tells her father: Reconsider plans to resume talks with the Reds
MANILA, Philippines — Unlike her father, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is not keen on giving the communist rebels another chance for peace.
In a statement Friday, Carpio urged her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, to re-evaluate his plans to resume peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
The presidential daughter called the peace talks “counterproductive and plainly useless.”
She claimed that there is no indication that the NDFP, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New People’s Army—which she even called as “terrorists”—are willing to negotiate for a peaceful resolution of the conflict
“History will also tell us that the communist movement is not to be trusted as they have consistently shown us their deep-seated proclivity to sow hate, violence and extremism, destruction and senseless killings,” Carpio said.
She added: “These are groups motivated by the desire to overthrow the government and rule the nation.”
Duterte, in recent speeches, expressed his openness to give another “last chance” for peace with the communist insurgents.
He even offered to shoulder the costs of the talks, which he wants to be held in the country.
This came months after he formally scrapped peace negotiations and declared the CPP-NPA as terror bodies.
READ: Palace sets conditions for resumption of peace talks with communists
Tough stance on rebels
Carpio maintained her position that the government must deal with the rebels in a “tough, strong and high intensity” way.
“We should put a stop to the insanity of these terrorists—or more children will be orphaned, more civilians will be killed, more soldiers will dies and many more facilities and equipment will be burned, setting back development by a hundred years,” she said.
The mayor added: “The country will move forward if the government is able to eliminate the rebels and end this senseless rebellion.”
CPP founder and NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison repeatedly stressed that peace talks would address the roots of armed conflict and lay the basis for a just and lasting peace.
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