PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte warned Monday the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that he would shelve the peace talks with the communist rebels if its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), will continue its landmine attacks.
"Do not use that landmine because if I hear another explosion, it will be a goodbye for a peace [dialogue]," the President said in his speech at the Camp Lukban in Catbalogan, Samar.
"I'm not warning you. I'm not even giving ultimatum. I'm just saying that if there is landmine explosion, which is prohibited by Geneva Convention, I'll forego the peace talks and forget about it. Not all the time, the government is always kneeling down. It's impossible," he added.
The President's statement came following the deaths of four soldiers in a landmine explosion in Monkayo, Compostela Valley.
On August 5, Corporal Gilmar Mapa, Corporal Jimmy Bayta, and Private First Class Rolen Roy Sarmiento died in a landmine explosion during an encounter against suspected NPA combatants at the village of Rizal.
The three soldiers were killed during a 45-minute firefight between the troops of 25th Infantry Battalion and 60 NPA rebels who were utilizing improvised explosive device. The three were declared dead on arrival in a hospital.
The CPP, in a separate statement, said the President "is showing himself to be more and more cantankerous, inviting one reason after another to attack the CPP and NPA instead of finding ways to push forward peace negotiations."
"He is daily becoming more bellicose issuing threats of intensifying war, apparently oblivious over the failure of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to stop the growth of the NPA in Mindanao," the CPP said.
"[However], the CPP reiterates its support for peace negotiations. It urges President Duterte to fulfill his promise," it added.
Despite his pronouncement, Duterte said he still sought to achieve the long-lasting peace in Mindanao for the Moro people.
"My job as president is not to look for fight and to allow people to die; my job as president is to seek peace with everybody so we can move on to the next generation," the President said.
"Our efforts now would be a continuation of our existence in this planet, And that is why, whether you believe in God or not, you'd believe that you are here, that's why there is what the thing called the soul if it it's not on a metaphysical form or spiritual form," he added.
Duterte said that in the next few days, he would talk to the radical group's emissary to continue the peace talk between the national government and the communist leaders in Oslo, Norway on August 20. (Sunnex)