Duterte: No release of rebels until ceasefire signed

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has insisted that he will not release detained members of communist groups until rebel negotiators and the government’s peace panel sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement.

“Produce to me a signed bilateral ceasefire agreement and I will release them within 48 hours. You can take my word for it," Duterte was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process on Tuesday.

Duterte’s administration remains in discussion with the Philippines' communist movement in an effort to end a 47-year-old conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people in the longest-running communist insurgency in Asia.

The two sides had declared their own unilateral ceasefires amid an August meeting, but both have since complained of reported violations.

In Tuesday’s statement, the government’s chief peace negotiator, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, said that Duterte told the peace panel that “once he receives even just a facsimile copy of the signed agreement, he will immediately order the release of communist rebels.”

Last week, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) -- whose political wing the National Democratic Front (NDF) is involved in the peace talks -- warned that it may end its unilateral ceasefire if the government fails to release political prisoners.

While Duterte has expressed his commitment to his campaign promise to release detained communist group members, he said Monday that he had rejected the NDF’s plea for 130 prisoners to be freed.

“I have already conceded so much on the side of the government," local media quoted him saying at the presidential palace.

He, however, assured that sick and elderly detainees would be released before Christmas Day.

While the NDF claims that 434 rebels are in detention across the Philippines, the government peace panel has reportedly submitted a list of 200 prisoners to be released.

In Tuesday’s statement, Bello said that it is to the best interest of combatants from both sides, and especially civilians affected by the conflict, that a “formal ceasefire is in place so that we can monitor any claims of violations”.

“Remember, one life saved is one more happy family,” he stressed

The next round of talks is planned for next month in Rome, rather than in Oslo as previously.