Philippines president declares unilateral ceasefire with Communists

Manila, July 25 (IANS) Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday declared a unilateral ceasefire with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

"I am announcing a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA-NDF effective immediately," Xinhua news agency quoted Duterte as saying.

With the resumption of the formal peace talks next month, the president said this was 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 said in his first State of the Nation Address.

Duterte said it was his "goal and dream" to have a "permanent and lasting peace" with the leftist rebels before he steps down from the presidency in 2022.

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