The exiled founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Monday said President Rodrigo Duterte’s renewed interest to reopen peace talks with the communists could lead to the resumption of formal negotiations between them and the government. This was not the first time Duterte floated the idea of resuming peace talks since formally terminating them in 2017. “ [The peace talks are] a political matter that must be decided by the civilian authority,” Calang said. The group’s secretary-general, Cristina Palabay, said releasing political prisoners could show government sincerity in pursuing the negotiations. Of the 629 political prisoners in the country as of November, 382 were arrested under the Duterte administration, according to Karapatan.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 09, 2019 20:48 UTC