Duterte: PH gov’t will not coalesce with communists

President Rodrigo Duterte KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

The Philippine government would not enter into a coalition government with the communists, President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday, a day after he formally declared the termination of the peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF).

READ: Duterte signs Proclamation No. 360 terminating peace talks with NPA

“As it was shaping up during our talks, I already noticed the trend of the thoughts of the other side. And when I summed it all, reading from all previous working papers it would sound like a coalition government,” Duterte said in front of scout rangers in Camp Tecson in San Miguel, Bulacan.

“That’s why I said in the previous days I cannot give you what I do not own and certainly a coalition government with the Republic of the Philippines is pure nonsense,” he added.

Duterte signed on Thursday Proclamation No. 360, which terminates the peace negotiations with the NDF and ordering the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to stop all the talks and meetings with the group.

Duterte’s decision came after the series of New People’s Army attacks that have affected civilians. /jpv