Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go earlier this week called on members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) to be sincere amid discussions of a return to peace talks between the national government and the rebel group.

According to a release by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), the presidential aid noted, President Rodrigo Duterte, as Davao City mayor, used to negotiate with local Communist rebels on his own and without the protection of bodyguards.

“Alam niyo gaano ka-sincere si Pangulong Duterte (You know how sincere President Duterte is),” Go added. “Sana kayo rin (Hope you are, too).”

A three-day forum calling for the resumption of peace talks, conducted by the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, closed yesterday at the CICM (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) in Talisay City.

The forum aimed to provide an understanding of the talks, discuss the merits of comprehensive agreement on socio-economic reforms (CASER), among other advocacies.

Earlier this year, the Negros Occidental chapter of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippine, called for the Philippine president’s ouster.

NDF-Negros spokesperson Ka Frank Fernandez claimed the president has “no more legitimacy” and called on religious leaders, particularly Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the island, to protest the Duterte administration and demand the president be removed from office./WDJ