We thought everything was fine.
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte not to rush the communist rebel forces into immediately reciprocating the unilateral ceasefire that was declared in the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“Sison said the CPP, its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA), and its political wing the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) must first study the parameters and the terms of the government’s unilateral ceasefire,” reports Delfin T. Mallari in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Sison stated, “President Duterte should be patient and not expect quick surrenders from highly principled and experienced revolutionaries who have a growing mass base against the rotten ruling system of big compradors and landlords. It took at least three days for the Duterte government to make clear what is the content of its unilateral ceasefire order. The CPP and NDFP should be given enough time to study the implications and consequences of the GRP (government of the Republic of the Philippines) ceasefire order and what will soon be the unilateral ceasefire order.”
Sison went on to point out that “while Duterte declared a unilateral ceasefire “effective immediately’ on Jul 25, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) did not issue its suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) until Jul 26.”
It so happened that there was an encounter between government forces and NPA rebels last Jul 27. The incident prompted Duterte to issue an ultimatum against the rebels.
