MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte is set to sign a document formally scrapping peace talks with the communists, saying negotiations with the rebels were just a “waste of time.”
Asked yesterday if the government has formally communicated plans to terminate the talks, Duterte said: “Give me a piece of paper. I will write it for you. Give it to them.”
“What do you intend to accomplish? It only ends up at name-calling and shouting. Don’t waste my time, I have so many things to do,” he said.
Duterte announced plans to terminate the negotiations with the leftists after the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) ordered its fighters to launch attacks against security forces enforcing martial law in Mindanao.
Despite the pronouncement, officials said the President has not ordered a formal notice canceling the talks be sent to the leftists.
The government was supposed to hold backchannel talks this month but these were also canceled after a series of clashes between communist rebels and government forces.
Meanwhile, government troops across the country are now on “offensive mode” against the New People’s Army (NPA), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Eduardo Año said yesterday. – With Jaime Laude, Michael Punongbayan, Ben Serrano