Duterte still not keen on peace talks with Reds despite surrenders

President Rodrigo Duterte is not keen on resuming the cancelled peace talks  with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front despite the continued surrender of New People’s Army rebels.

“Not at this time," Duterte told reporters in Balo-i, Lanao del Norte on Wednesday.

"Alongside with the mass surrenders is also the ferocity of those fighting...I am not satisfied by the numbers of surrenderees,” he added.

Duterte warned the communist rebels to give up the armed struggle or risk being killed.

“Wala man akong magawa. They’re fighting government. They’re killing the soldiers and policemen. So my order is also to kill them,” he said.

Duterte previously hosted 215 former rebels also in Malacañang on February 7, the first batch of the 683 who were presented to the President in Davao City last December.

Last week, he welcomed 238 former rebels also in the presidential palace where he urged rebel returnees not to return to the hinterlands where they used to roam lest they be killed by their former comrades in the NPA.

Instead, Duterte suggested that the former NPA rebels enlist themselves as paramilitary members of the Citizens' Armed Geographical Units.

He said that the government was doing its best to address the root causes of the armed struggle such as lack of education, lack of job opportunities, and landlessness of farmers, among others.

The former rebels, mostly from poor families and barely finished schooling, came from the provinces of Compostela Valley, Agusan del Sur, and Davao del Norte.

Duterte earlier said he would consult the military before making a decision on returning to the peace negotiations with the communist rebels which he scrapped last November, citing continued attacks by the rebels on government troops and civilians. —NB, GMA News