Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Tuesday admitted that it was impossible to end the communist insurgency this year despite plans by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “We cannot do it (end insurgency) this year because that is a big problem,” Lorenzana said on the sidelines of Tuesday’s joint Department of National Defense-AFP new year’s call in Camp Aguinaldo, pointing out that the communist insurgency has been festering for the last 50 years. ADVERTISEMENT“We cannot end it in one year. But if our target would be the remaining three years of President Duterte’s presidency, we can probably do it,” he added. “What we are seeing here is because of the success of our localized peace talks, he (Sison) wants negotiations to resume so it will be held abroad,” he said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer January 08, 2019 21:33 UTC