Joma welcomes Duterte announcement of unilateral ceasefire

National Democratic Front (NDF) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison. Photo by Kristine Angeli Sabillo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison welcomed on Monday President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement of a unilateral ceasefire in the military’s counter-insurgency operations against the CPP’s New People’s Army, in preparation for the peace talks with communist rebels.

READ: Duterte announces unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels

In an online message sent from his base in The Netherlands, Sison, the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which would negotiate for the communist rebels, said: “I welcome President Duterte’s announcement of a unilateral ceasefire of the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and [Philippine National Police] in relation to the New People’s Army. Within the hour, the NDFP will issue a positive response.”

“We share with President Duterte the determination to resume the formal talks and work for a just and lasting peace,” Sison said.

Mr. Duterte, in his State of the Nation Address, urged the CPP, NPA and NDFP leaders to “end these decades of ambuscades and bloody skirmishes.”

“We are going nowhere. And it is getting bloodier by the day,” he said.

The President said he was announcing a ceasefire “to immediately stop violence on the ground, restore peace in the communities and provide an enabling environment conducive to the resumption of the peace negotiations.”

“I expect and call on our fellow Filipinos in the NDFP and its forces to respond accordingly,” he said.

The Philippine government and NDFP panels are set to resume peace negotiations in Norway from Aug. 20 to Aug. 27.  SFM

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