Reds must stop hostilities if they want to resume talks – Panelo

FILE – In this Dec. 26, 2013, file photo, communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels perform in the hinterlands of Davao in Southern Philippines. Philippine communist rebels vowed Although less numerous and less violent than Muslim separatist rebels in the country’s south, the Maoists have outlived successive Philippine administrations and held out against constant military and police offensives, relying on clandestine cells to pass on orders to members from their exiled leaders. (AP Photo, File)

Communist rebels should stop their hostile activities if they want to resume peace talks with the government, the President’s chief legal counsel said on Tuesday.

“They should cease hostilities. They should stop their illegal activities,” chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo told reporters in a chance interview.

Panelo said the New People’s Army (NPA) should stop extorting money and killing innocent civilians to show goodwill to the government.

“They’ve been assaulting even innocent civilians. That’s bad,” he said.

When asked if the government is ready to resume peace talks with the communist rebels, Panelo said: “Whether it would be resumed, it would depend on the goodwill that the left will bring to this government. They’re the ones who violated their own ceasefire.”

But the President’s legal counsel was “confident” the government and the rebels will eventually “go back to the negotiating table.”

“After all, the left, they’re saying what they’re doing is for the people then there’s no reason for them to back out or not to continue with the peace talks,” he said.

On February 4, Duterte said the peace talks with the communist rebels would not continue unless there’s a “compelling reason.”

“Peace talks will remain canceled unless there is a compelling reason that will benefit the interest of the nation,” the President said in a late night interview in Davao City.

READ: Duterte: No more peace talks with Reds

The government and the rebels earlier canceled their own unilateral ceasefire, blaming each other of violating their own truce.