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Philippine president declares unilateral ceasefire with leftist rebels

Xinhua, July 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared Monday a unilateral ceasefire with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

Duterte, in his first State of the Nation Address, said the truce will be effective immediately as he expects the other side to reciprocate the truce.

"I am now announcing a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA-NDF effective immediately," he said.

With the resumption of the formal peace talks next month, the president said this is now the time to end the "decades of ambuscades."

"All of us want peace, not the peace of the dead but the peace of the living...if we cannot as yet love one another, then in God's name let us not hate each other too much," he stressed.

Duterte said it is his "goal and dream" that before he steps down from power by 2022, there is already "permanent and lasting peace" with the leftist rebels.

The leftist insurgency in the Philippines is considered as a long running communist insurgency in Asia. The CPP-NPA-NDF has been waging war against the government for over four decades. Endit