July 30, 2016•Update: July 30, 2016
By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines
President Rodrigo Duterte has called off a unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels and placed troops on "high alert" hours before the rebels said they were prepared to declare a ceasefire of their own.
The lifting of the truce with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing the New People's Army (NPA) came into effect Saturday after the rebel group failed to meet Duterte's deadline to make their own declaration.
"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's statement read.
It was released to the media after the 5 p.m. deadline (0900GMT) lapsed.
The president put all security forces on high alert, and told them to continue their mandate to neutralize all threats to national security.
But in an ABS-CBN television interview Saturday evening, exiled communist leader Jose Maria Sison said the CPP-NPA was expected to declare its own ceasefire at 8 p.m. Saturday -- three hours after failing to meet Duterte's deadline to match his truce declaration.
"There's an announcement to be made [on implementation] by the revolutionary in the Philippines. They are the ones who will decide whether they will release it [the ceasefire declaration]," Sison said
Sison said the recommendation for the ceasefire came from the CPP's political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF), where he serves as chief political consultant.
On July 25, during his first State of the Nation address, the newly inaugurated Duterte declared the ceasefire, but issued the deadline two days later following an ambush by the NPA in Davao del Norte.
According to the military, NPA rebels ambushed a Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit in a village in southern Davao del Norte province, killing a government militiaman and injuring four others.
In a statement dated July 29, Aris Francisco, an NPA spokesperson, owned up to Wednesday’s ambush, but said the militiamen were very much to blame.
The military were “clearly on combat operation and not engaged in ‘civilian’ activities, in direct violation to President Duterte’s ceasefire order,” he said.
A Mindanao-based spokesman for the communist rebel group has also claimed that Duterte's unilateral ceasefire was not being enforced in Mindanao.
"There is no conspicuous and veritable unilateral ceasefire exercised by [the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police] and paramilitary troops in Southern Mindanao after Duterte declared a truce," Rigoberto Sanchez said in statement Saturday.
It was unclear whether the emerging differences between Duterte and the insurgents would affect the resumption of peace talks betwen the two sides scheduled for Aug. 20-27 in the Norwegian capital of Oslo
Duterte has been making peace overtures to the NDF since he started to campaign for this year's presidential election.
He has sought to bring the rebels back to the negotiating table in an effort to end a Maoist insurgency -- one of the world’s longest running -- that has claimed 30,000 lives since the late 1960s.
Communist leader Sison had said Friday that the rebels should be given more time to study the ceasefire offer.
“The CPP and NDF should be given enough time to study the implications and consequences of the GRP [government] ceasefire order and what will soon be the CPP unilateral ceasefire order on the NPA."
