Palace: Sison spoke like 'true terrorist' in backing Duterte ouster

MANILA, Philippines — National Democratic Front of the Philippines political adviser Jose Maria Sison spoke like a true "terrorist" when he said communist rebels would rather join movements to oust President Rodrigo Duterte than continue with stalled peace talks, a spokesman for the Palace said.

In a statement released on Thursday, Sison said the Maoist rebels would no longer continue peace negotiations with an administration headed by Duterte, a big blow to efforts to find a peaceful settlement to decades of armed rebellion in the longest communist insurgency in Asia.

Sison said conducting peace negotiations with the next administration would be easier, adding that drafts of agreements negotiated under Duterte could be used in talks with his successor.

When sought for comment, Harry Roque, a spokesman for the president, told Philstar.com: "Spoken like a true terrorist!"

Duterte meanwhile said that he doesn't have any problem with Sison's announcement and that they would just continue with the armed fighting.

"It's better. I'm a worker of the government, and my job is to find peace for my country. If they don't want to talk to me, that's fine," the president said in an interview in Bohol.

According to the chief executive, Sison's decision would not change the equation since the government is still fighting the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army, which he has declared terrorist groups.

He also scoffed at Sison's declaration that the rebels would just join oust movements against the government and wondered aloud about who would join the founder of the CPP.

This decision by Maoist rebels came just after Duterte suspended peace negotiations that were scheduled to resume this week. The cancellation was supposedly so the government could hold public consultations over the deals with the rebels, including the interim peace agreement.

Duterte said that he also would like to hold negotiations in the Philippines instead of Norway, which has been serving as the third-party facilitator of the talks.

The government also suspended backchannel talks with the rebels during the three-month review of all the agreements.