Duterte renews call to Reds: Stop extortion, taxation, we’ll resume talks

INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines – Will he or will he not resume the peace talks?

Despite saying a week ago that he would never talk to the communists, President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday again imposed a condition for the peace negotiations to resume.

READ: Peace talks flip-flops 

“Stop extorting money and your taxation,” Duterte said in a speech during the Peace and Order Summit for barangay officials in Legazpi City in Albay.

This was not the first time the President appealed to communist rebels to stop their extortion activities and collection of revolutionary taxes.

But on Friday, he said the government was willing to spend for the talks to resume, which collapsed after Duterte signed Proclamation No. 360 in November 2017.

“I will guarantee na ako na ang gagastos sa talks. You can come courtesy of the money of the Philippines,” he said.

“You can come and be billeted in simple hotels because luxury is not for us. You can come in peace, di kayo huhulihin,” he added.