Zubiri calls for calm, seeks bilateral ceasefire

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri . INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Warning of the cost of a protracted war in the hinterlands, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri on Sunday appealed for calm and asked the administration and the Left to go back to the negotiating table and forge a bilateral ceasefire. 

This followed an apparent  fallout between the administration of President Duterte and the communist movement, with the former lifting a unilateral ceasefire after the latter failed to reciprocate within his deadline. 

The President issued the ultimatum after a rebel ambush in Davao del Norte killed a militiaman and wounded four others. 

“As a leader from Mindanao, an area always experiencing this type of fighting between the military and the NPA (New People’s Army), I appeal to our leaders to continue the path to peace,” Zubiri told the Inquirer by phone Sunday. 

“My suggestion is have the negotiators go back to the negotiating table and discuss a bilateral ceasefire at the soonest possible time,” he said. 

Zubiri, a native of Bukidnon, express concern about how those living in remote communities near rebel lairs would suffer and their lives disrupted again should fighting resume. 

“We are always in the line of fire of ambuscades, fighting between rebels and government troops. We’d like to appeal to negotiators to come back and discuss a ceasefire. We don’t want an escalation of attacks and fighting in our area,” Zubiri said. 

“It’s easy for those who live in Metro Manila to say just go on with all-out war, but it’s hard for us who suffer the brunt of the fighting between the military and the NPA. Our local economy suffers. Tourism suffers. We are left to fend for ourselves,” he said.

President Duterte also hails from Mindanao./rga

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