Duterte dissolves gov’t peace panel in talks with Reds

President Rodrigo Duterte has dissolved the government panel negotiating for peace with the communist rebels led by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

In letters addressed to each of the panel members dated March 18, the Office of the President said their appointments are now terminated since Duterte already ordered the cancellation of the talks in November 2017.

Apart from Bello, the other members of the panel are former Pangasinan congressman Hernani Braganza, former Commission on Elections commissioner Rene Sarmiento, human rights lawyer Angela Librado-Trinidad and former state prosecutor Antonio Arellano.

"To ensure uninterrupted delivery of public service, you are hereby directed to turn over all official documents, papers and properties in your possession to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity," the letter read.

Duterte's decision came four days after he said in Davao City that he would never consider returning to the peace negotiating table if the communist rebels would not stop their alleged extortion activities.

The President, in particular, slammed the rebels’ collection of revolutionary tax and permit to campaign fees from politicians during the election season.

He also revealed that he will reconstitute the negotiating panel.

“I will reconstitute the panel, this time it will have a military and police component and civilians, mga professor,” he said during the National Peace and Order Council meeting on March 14.

Peace negotiations between the government and communist rebels bogged down in November 2017 after Duterte lamented the continued attacks by the rebels on troops and civilians.

The talks were supposed to resume in June last year in Norway but Duterte called it off to give way to public consultations and review of existing agreements.

Last September, Duterte told troops in Isabela that the communist insurgency may be over by the second quarter of 2019, pointing to the continued surrender of New People's Army members and fall of several guerilla fronts in Mindanao as indicators.

Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison scoffed at Duterte's claim and said the President was delusional. —NB, GMA News