PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte said he hopes the next administration will be able to reconnect and end the communist rebellion in the country after his term.
Duterte made the statement during his visit to Pontevedra Elementary School Evacuation Center in Pontevedra, Capiz, to check the status of those affected by tropical storm “Agaton” (international name: Megi) in the province last Saturday.
“I hope that whoever [president] comes in next after me, they would try to reconnect [with communist rebels] and I pray that it (talks) would succeed,” Duterte said in his speech during the visit.
The President said he once considered members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF) as his friends, but the group’s continued threat to the country’s peace and order prompted him to end the said friendship.
“When I became President, our relationship changed. You know, because I am now, in my hands the security and the safety of the nation. So, if they will not stop [with their rebellion], we will surely be in conflict with one another. But we were friends; ‘were’ since it is already over,” Duterte said.
Duterte formally ended his peace talks with the CPP-NDF in 2017 after the group allegedly continued to attack government troops and civilians despite the said dialogues.
The administration then branded the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as terrorist groups, and intensified its anti-insurgency initiatives through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Group.
The President reiterated his call on members of the CPP-NDF to drop their arms and join the election if they really want to become part of the government.
“I hope that we would find peace with the communist,” Duterte said. “I don’t want to remain in conflict with them.”