MANILA (Updated) -- President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he believed that the peace talks with the communist rebels must be revived, but stressed that the parameters for the negotiations must be clearly set.
The President made the remark during the first general assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines in Manila, a day after the government panel led by Secretary Jesus Dureza and the National Democratic Front (NDF) leaders reached an agreement to resume negotiations by the first week of April.
The agreement was reached as a result of back channeling efforts by government and rebel negotiators.
Duterte said he had a "vague" idea of this latest development, but agreed that the resumption of peace talks and the restoration of truce by both parties are a “must-do” in order to attain peace in the country.
“I want a ceasefire that is reduced to writing and the parameters [to be] clearly shown – where will we go and what will we do if we fail,” the President said.
“We have to pray for everything. And somehow, it is still vague until now. I cannot expound any further. But I have this must – must-do – to achieve peace,” he added.
Dureza had announced that the government is expected to meet with the communists in April and in June, after the successful back channel talks held last March 10 and 11.
He had also said that the two parties agreed to reinstate their respective truce before the scheduled peace talks in April.
Malacañang said the present arrangement made by the government and the communists is "a welcome sign that both sides are in agreement about the common good of the Filipino people."
Prospero de Vera III, adviser to the government negotiating panel and member of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-economic Reforms (Caser) Group, said in an email that no specific timelines have been set for discussions or the parameters for resumption.
"We are just getting ready to fly to Oslo to resume the negotiations as soon as the President instructs us to do so," De Vera said.
Duterte scrapped the peace talks in early February after lifting the government's unilateral ceasefire in a tit-for-tat response to the rebels' announcement that it was terminating its own ceasefire.
Just last week, an irate Duterte said he was prepared for an all-out war against the rebels following the ambush-killing of four policemen by suspected New People's Army (NPA) members in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
But he later admitted that there were back channeling efforts to revive the negotiations. (with MVI/VoxPop Philippines)
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