Duterte lifts ceasefire with Reds as ultimatum lapses
President Rodrigo Duterte (INQUIRER PHOTO)
Two hours past his deadline, President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday evening ordered the immediate lifting of the unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels that he declared less than a week ago, as the 5 p.m. ultimatum he gave lapsed without reciprocation.
“Let me now announce that I am hereby ordering for the immediate lifting of the unilateral ceasefire that I ordered last July 25 against the communist rebels,” Duterte said in a statement coursed through Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza.
The President issued the ultimatum after members of the New People’s Army attacked government troops in Davao del Norte on Wednesday, killing one of them.
He also ordered the government’s security forces to be on heightened alert and continue performing their functions to “neutralize all threats to national security.”
“Correspondingly, I am ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to also withdraw the operational guidelines they issued in pursuance to that ceasefire declaration,” he said.
“I am ordering all security forces to be on heightened alert and continue to discharge their normal functions and mandate to neutralize all threats to national security, protect the citizenry, enforce the laws and maintain peace in the land.”
The President declared the ceasefire during his first State of the Nation Address on July 25.
Earlier, Dureza said peace talks with communist groups would continue in August as scheduled, even if the President lifts the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of the Philippines has not issued any truce declaration as of yet.
Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the New People’s Army-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command, earlier on Saturday said the truce that Duterte had declared was not being enforced by the AFP and paramilitary troops in Mindanao.
The Communist Party of the Philippines said it would issue a statement 8 p.m. Saturday. With Leila Salaverria, Philippine Daily Inquirer; Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao
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