DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte said Davao City Peace Committee (DC-Peace) will only terminate its localized peace talks once the national government will officially declare members of New People Army (NPA) as terrorists.
But, Duterte-Carpio said in an interview last Friday that it is up to the DC-Peace to do so, saying she does not micromanage the committee's work.
"On their own they can decide on their next step if an official declaration is released," Duterte-Carpio said.
She added that no official declaration has been released so far.
"What is official is that cancellation of the talks, as released by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Oppap). Once we get official document, declaring NPA as terrorist, the DC-Peace will have an emergency meeting and they will discuss the implications of the declaration and they will decide whether to terminate or continue depending on legal implications to the declaration of president," Duterte-Carpio said.
She said as of their November meeting, the committee planned to go in Paquibato district as part of their activities for localized peace talks.
Duterte-Carpio also added that she does not have any official statement yet on the recommendation of DC-Peace for the ceasefire dubbed as A Time of Peace during Christmas.
"DC-Peace had a recommendation for a time like that during Christmas... Wala pa'y official na agreement with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (There is no official agreement with the PNP and PNP yet)," Duterte-Carpio said.