Sara Duterte: ‘I am offering my hand in peace to NPA’

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Monday announced that she is “offering [her] hand in peace” to the New People’s Army.

“In light of the recent events in the third district of Davao City that resulted in the deaths of our fellow Filipinos, I am offering my hand in peace to the New People's Army,” Mayor Duterte said in a statement.

“I am willing to listen, if the NPA is willing to talk,” she added.

On Thursday last week, two soldiers and two suspected NPA guerillas were killed in a clash in Davao City.

Seventeen government troops were also hurt in the encounter.

The Davao City mayor, however, said she is only willing to talk to the NPA as a group and not as individuals.

“My only condition, at this point is, I want to talk to them as a group. I will not accept individuals who want to voluntarily surrender,” the mayor said.

“I have a plan but I want to listen first to what you have to say,” she added.

The mayor, however, did not state her plan.

Mayor Duterte is hoping that the NPA accepts her peace offer for each party’s benefit.

“I suggest you think about this offer seriously since this will benefit you, our fellow Dabawenyos, and our beloved city,” she said.

“In the event that you will decline my offer, I can only pray that there will be no more deaths and leave everything to AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and to God,” she added.

Mayor Duterte’s father, President Rodrigo Duterte, has earlier branded the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) a “terrorist group” following his decision to lift the government unilateral ceasefire.

"You give them all the leeway and you return to me a stupid... From now on, I will consider the CPP-NPA-NDF a terrorist group,” President Duterte said earlier this month. —Erwin Colcol/KG, GMA News