MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he is no longer keen on holding talks with communist leaders after Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison sought for his ouster.

“Sabi ni Sison I will not last three years. Sabi ko kay Sison, ayaw ko na makipag-usap sa inyo, kasi sabi niyo three years na lang ako,” Duterte said in a speech in Davao City.

“Eh di fine. If that is my destiny I will accept it….Itong Sison na ito, [he has been] fighting [for] 50 years. We are about to begin another 50 years.”

Sison and the Communist Party of the Philippines recently traded barbs with Duterte’s top security officials. The war of words started when the government postponed the resumption of formal peace talks by the end of June, citing the need for further public consultation.

Sison, frustrated with the delay in the resumption of the peace talks, said the communist National Democratic Front could no longer negotiate with the Duterte administration and that it would be easier to support the “Oust Duterte” movement.

Joma says NDFP could no longer negotiate with Duterte
Joma: Series of deal breakers from Duterte side

He later clarified that the decision to formally end the peace talks with the Duterte government lies in the NDF.

The CPP, for its part, said last week that Duterte won’t likely be able to finish his 6-year term, as “he has become isolated domestically and internationally.”

The group added, “every day, the clamor for his (Duterte) ouster grows loud and reverberates across the country. In his drive to accelerate his bureaucrat capitalist plunder and establish his autocratic rule, his regime has exercised hostile moves that subjected the Filipino people to deepening crisis and oppression.”

Deeming Sison “irrelevant,” the government is now considering holding localized peace talks, where local government units will directly negotiate with communist rebels within their respective jurisdictions.

Palace pushes for ‘localized’ peace talks, says Joma now irrelevant

The CPP has rejected the localized peace talks, saying all its fronts and the units of the New People’s Army, it's armed wing, remain united.

Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, meanwhile, said the door remains open for the resumption of the peace talks between the NDFP and government peace panels, but the President has laid down certain conditions.

Dureza said the President wants the peace talks to be held in the Philippines and a ceasefire arrangement where armed communist rebels are “encamped” in designated areas.

The President is also seeking a stop to the rebels’ collection of so-called revolutionary taxes and a guarantee that the communists would not seek a coalition government.

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